


The Coyote Child

by Terri Botta (Isilwath)



Series: The Lucky Ones [3]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-27
Updated: 2018-02-11
Packaged: 2018-04-17 12:24:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 114,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4666401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isilwath/pseuds/Terri%20Botta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to The Lucky Ones. Inuyasha and Kagome are asked to adopt a coyote-hanyou baby from Arizona.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I started this story 10 years ago. My life has changed, the world has changed. I abandoned this story back in 2005 with little hope of finishing it. Many, many people over on ff.net have asked me to continue it. Now it is nearly complete. I hope to finish it within the next month as there are only one or two chapters left.

Prologue  
  
            In the deep of night in the high desert of Arizona, where the temperatures plummeted well below zero, a small hogan made of mud and wood was buffeted by the wind. On the edge of a tiny community of no more than seven hogans and a thirty year-old trailer, the small home was heated by a fire burning in a cut off barrel.  
  
            Far away from the modern world, steeped in the native traditions of a people who had lived there for more than a thousand years, a girl barely out of childhood struggled in the throes of labor. She did not cry or sob with pain, but set her mind and spirit to bringing her newborn into the world. The hands of her grandmother, wizened from decades in the sun but still nimble from years of working on the loom, waited to catch the baby and touch him to the ground. With a final push and strangled gasp, the girl felt the new life leave the safety of her body, and heard her grandmother murmuring as she took the infant and laid him on the blanket she had woven specifically for this birth. Even in her exhaustion, she could not help but smile as her baby gave his first cry.  
  
            "Grandmother," she whispered, panting.  
  
            "A boy," the old woman answered softly.  
  
            She spoke the language of the Dineh, "the People", also known as the Navajo. She had never learned English, and had never left the reservation in all her seventy-four years.  
  
            "A boy…" she breathed, then lay back on the mattress pallet.  
  
            She heard the soft splashing of her grandmother washing her newborn son and his protesting cries, but soon became caught up in the birth that followed the birth: the expelling of the placenta. A short while later, her grandmother placed the blanket-wrapped infant into her waiting arms and she brushed her hand over his soft grey ears.  
  
            "My baby…"  
  
            Her joy was short-lived however, as the peace of the hogan was broken by her father's booming voice.  
  
            "Old woman," the man said gruffly as he barged into the tiny hut.  
  
            "Vincent," her grandmother answered, her voice cold and neutral.

  
            "Is the child…?"  
  
            "He belongs to Coyote," the old woman confirmed.  
  
            Her father cursed and turned to her, and she tried to shield her son from his angry eyes. She gasped when she heard the tell-tale hiss of a knife being drawn and she clutched the infant to her chest.  
  
            "We should kill it now," he growled.  
  
            "No!" she cried, struggling to sit up, her body still weak from labor.  
  
            "It's a Skinwalker's spawn! How could you let yourself be tricked by his schemes?!"  
  
            "No! Don’t hurt my baby!!" she screamed, and outside she could hear the wind picking up as if agreeing with her.  
  
            "Vincent," her grandmother spoke, putting herself in his path. "It has been many years since Coyote visited the People. He is powerful and can bring terrible evil to us if we anger Him. We are sure to bring his wrath down on us if we murder His child."  
  
            "She cannot keep it! Let us take it into the desert and leave it there. If Coyote wants it, He will take it," the man announced.  
  
            "No! He’ll freeze to death!!" she cried, the tears streaming down her cheeks.  
  
            "It cannot stay in the village! I will not have a witch child here!"  
  
            "No!! You can't take my baby! I won’t let you!"  
  
            The man raised his hand and it looked like he would strike the old woman to get to the infant, but a new figure entered the hogan and stayed his arm. A gust of cold wind came in with him, making the fire in the barrel sputter and flare.  
  
            "Father. Don't," the new man pleaded.  
  
            "Michael," she sighed with relief at the sight of her older brother.  
  
            He had always been her protector, and she had missed him dearly when he left for the White Man's school. Now he went to another of their colleges in New Mexico, but he had come back for the birth of her baby.  
  
            "You can’t hurt Sara's baby!" her brother insisted. "Coyote **_chose_** her! This is no accident! If we kill the child He'll take His revenge on us! Haven’t we suffered enough this year with Hattie’s hogan burning down?"  
  
            "The evil has come to this village since **_she_** gave herself to the witch!" Vincent countered. "The sooner we get rid of it, the faster the evil will go away."  
  
            "Grandmother told me Benjamin performed the ceremony and found **_no hex_** on Sara! If there is evil here, it is not because of her."  
  
            "Two sheep have died this month alone!" her father argued.  
  
            "Those deaths are not Sara's fault! Those sheep came from the lowlands and were sick when they got here," Michael reminded.  
  
            "It doesn't matter. She can't keep it. It will bring evil to this family."  
  
            "My baby isn’t evil!" she yelled.  
  
            "Shut up, girl! It was your stupidity that got us into this mess in the first place!" her father roared. "If it wouldn’t taint the water, I'd drown it in the barrel!"  
  
            Michael joined his grandmother and put himself between their father and the baby.  
  
            "You aren’t touching Sara's baby," he said with conviction.  
  
            Two more men came into the hogan and took Vincent by the arms.  
  
            "Please Vincent. If you hurt Coyote's child He will kill more sheep and burn down more hogans," one pleaded. "Already the wind smells of anger. Please listen to us."  
  
            "Let me go!" Vincent ordered, pulling his arms from their grasp. "Alright. I won’t kill the witch child, but it can't stay here!"  
  
            With that he stormed out of the hogan leaving her with her brother, grandmother and her baby. Her grandmother clucked disapprovingly and shook her head.  
  
            "He is a fool. He was always a fool. I said so when your mother married him," the old woman sighed. "Still, it is a problem," she admitted, looking at the newborn's fuzzy grey coyote ears and soft grey hair. The baby opened his eyes, revealing amber irises: the color of Coyote's eyes. "It would be best of we hid him when the white men come from the lowlands. They would not understand."  
  
            "I will go into town tomorrow and use the phone," Michael said. "I will call my friend from college. He is Cree and has family in Canada. He once told me of a family of half-dogs living there that the Cree know of. Maybe he can help us."  
  
            "Half-dogs?" she repeated, staring into her son's yellow-brown eyes.  
  
            Michael looked guilty. "I admit that I told him about your condition one night when we went out drinking after mid-terms were over. He told me his family in Canada had known of the existence of half-dogs and other Original People who lived near them."  
  
            "What can they do to help us?" she asked timidly, stroking her son's little cheek. He'd been very quiet. Since his first few cries he hadn’t made another sound. She thought he might be hungry so she offered him her breast and was relieved when he began to nurse.  
  
            "I don’t know. Maybe they can talk to the half-dogs for us. Maybe they will take the baby and raise him with them."  
  
            "Take my baby?" she gasped.  
  
            "Father's already said he can’t stay here, and you know it's just a matter of time before others join him. He isn’t safe here and you know it, Sara. It would be better if we found him somewhere else to go. Unless his father…"  
  
            "I haven't seen Temeh since the last Gathering two months ago," she admitted sadly.  
  
            Her brother snorted and gave a short nod. "I'll leave in the morning then and be back by nightfall."  
  
            "I will ask Benjamin to come bless the child. That will keep him safe for a short time," her grandmother added. "Until the fools decide the Blessing is not enough to keep them safe."  
  
            She had nothing to say. In truth a terrible hollowness was seeping into her soul. She knew all too well how superstitious her people could be. It would not take long for the tribe to declare her a Skinwalker herself and cast her out. Her only hope was her lover, and the thin chance that he would come to save her and her baby.  
  
            "But these things are for the morning and it is still night. You should sleep, child. No harm will come to you or your baby while you are in my home," the old woman told her.  
  
            "I'll stay here and sleep by the door," Michael announced.  
  
            Her grandmother nodded in approval and rooted in an old trunk for a blanket. The old woman gave it to her brother and he accepted it gratefully, lying on the dirt floor in front of the hut entrance. Then her grandmother got out two more blankets and draped them over her and her newborn.  
  
            "These should keep off the chill when the fire dies," the old woman said kindly.  
  
            "Thank you, Grandmother."  
  
            No more was said as they settled down to rest. Her baby had finished nursing and was now dozing against her breasts. She made sure he was secure in his blanket before laying back down and curling up with him. He gave her a soft sigh as she tucked him into the curve of her body but otherwise did not stir. Inside her mind was full of turmoil as to what was to come. She didn’t want to give up her baby, but she knew he wasn't safe. And as long as Temeh stayed away…  
  
            "Temeh please…" she whispered.  
  
            Outside the hogan, she swore she could hear a mournful howl on the wind.  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter One

Chapter One  
  
            Yukio leaned against the driver's side door of the car and enjoyed the sun on his face. Winter came early to Alberta and this year would be no exception. It was only the middle of September and already the temperatures were dipping low at night. He'd grown accustomed to the cold, although he had to admit that the first few winters he had spent in Canada had been a shock compared to the warmer climate of Japan.  
  
            _'And back then we didn’t have things like geo-thermal heat pumps and natural gas fireplaces,'_ he mused. _'Kid doesn’t know how good he has it growing up in this era.'  
  
_             He was referring, of course, to his little brother Ian who was now the rambunctious age of seven. The pup would be exiting the private school his parents had enrolled him in once he turned five. The school was youkai owned and operated, and the ¼ youkai fit in fairly well. They had discovered that he learned about as fast as a true hanyou, but wasn't as strong or resilient. He was, however, significantly faster and stronger than human children. His senses were also sharper than a human's, but more diluted than a hanyou or youkai's. None of this came as a surprise to any of them. In fact, he was actually exceeding their expectations. It seemed that Inuyasha 'threw' his genes rather well.  
  
            Being that it was Wednesday, it was his day to pick up Ian from school. Wednesdays and Thursdays were the days Inuyasha worked at the Edmonton office and would be too far away to pick up Ian. His mother also worked full days at the clinic in Calgary on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays so it was up to him to play chauffer. Not that he minded in the least having to pick up Ian. He'd take the pup out and they'd do 'brother things' like go for an afternoon snack or swing by the cycle shop and ogle the new models- much to his mother's dismay.  
  
            He never picked up Ian on the bike. He always used one of the cars, usually the Subaru or the Jeep. Neither of his parents believed in spending huge sums of money on cars, so they never owned anything fancier than a Lexus, and his father had traded that in for a 4x4 after the first winter. Today he had the Subaru, one of their new AWD wagons that handled nicely and got great gas mileage on its hybrid engine. He was all for reducing emissions and saving gasoline, and he was glad that the car manufacturers were really starting to catch on.  
  
            The scent of his little brother tickling his nose brought him out of his thoughts as the school let out for the day. He never parked in the same place twice in a row, and used it as an exercise for Ian to hone his senses. He wanted the pup to track him by scent and learn to use his brain to figure things out. His own father had devised similar tests when he was growing up, although they usually weren't as safe or tame as simply making the pup pick him out on a crowded street.  
  
            He tracked Ian's progress with his own nose, and smiled to himself when the pup caught his scent and made a b-line for him. The seven year-old trotted around the corner a moment later, pausing a moment to sniff the air, before turning in his direction and spotting him with his sharp eyes.  
  
            "Aniki!" Ian called and ran over to him, book bag slapping haphazardly on his little back.  
  
           "Heh heh. What took you so long?" he teased, picking the pup up as arms were thrown around his neck.  
  
            Ian was wiry and nimble, and wrapped his legs around his older brother’s waist.  
  
            "You were hiding again," the pup complained, pouting.  
  
            "No I wasn't. I just wasn't where you could **_see_** me. You found me well enough, didn’t you?" he answered, pushing a stray tendril of Ian’s long silver hair back behind the pup’s pointed ear.  
  
            Ian tapped his nose. "I sniffed you out."  
  
            "Exactly."  
  
            He set the pup down and rubbed his head. Even though Ian didn’t have dog ears like his father and older brother, he still enjoyed a head-rub just as much as the rest of them.  
  
            "Where are we going today?" Ian asked enthusiastically.    
  
            "Oh, I dunno. I thought maybe we'd get a burger then go…" he began, then stopped as his natural danger sense pinged at the back of his mind.  
  
            There was a new scent, a strange scent that was way too close for his comfort, and he got the distinct impression that they were being watched.  
  
            "Aniki?" Ian questioned, moving closer.  
  
            He put a protective hand on his brother's shoulder and cast around, trying to discern the source of the threat. His eyes fell on a couple standing just down the street from them on the corner where Ian had come from. The hackles on the back of his neck rose when he realized that they were looking right at him. It bothered him because their concealment spells were hiding their hanyou features behind illusions. To anyone on the street, they should look like two Asians with black hair and dark eyes, unless the observer was youkai, hanyou, or had Talent. These two weren't youkai or hanyou, but they seemed to know what he was, at least their body language was suggesting that, and it was making him very uncomfortable.  
  
            He could tell they were Native, probably Cree from one of the local reserves. His family had had some dealings with them over the years, but not so much recently. Most of the elders who kept the Old Ways had passed on, and fewer and fewer of the Natives today were all that distinguishable from the Europeans, except for the color of their hair and skin. Now most of the contact they had with the Cree was through their work in Peace River. The Woodland Cree Band had a number of settlements north of the town and they often found themselves working on houses in or near Woodland Cree territory.  
  
            These two were dressed in Western clothes: jeans and T-shirts, although the woman wore an ankle-length denim skirt, but it was obvious from their faces and hair that they were Native. Both had long black hair that they had tied into two braids, and the woman had small ornaments at the top of each braid that looked like beadwork or embroidery.  
  
            He watched them warily, but they did not move in a threatening manner.  
  
            "Aniki?" Ian asked again, softly now, his own eyes following his older brother's to look at the two humans.  
  
            "Stay close to me, Ian."  
  
            "Un," the pup agreed and hunkered even closer.  
  
            He was just starting to relax when he saw the human female cast a glace to something across the street and he turned his head to see two more Natives directly across the road from them. These were two human males and they were dressed slightly differently from the Cree. They were probably from another tribe, but at that point he didn’t really care because his protective instincts were kicking into high gear and he was feeling very trapped.  
  
            "Ian, get in the car," he ordered.  
  
            "Un," Ian answered and began to move around to the passenger side of the vehicle.  
  
            He grabbed the pup's shoulder and pushed him towards the driver's side door. "Get in this side and slide across the seats," he corrected. "Do it quickly." :Obey, Beta-male.:  
  
            Ian knew better than to question him, and hurriedly opened the door and got in, scooting across the seats. Once his brother was in, he used the remote on his keychain to lock the doors.  
  
            "Ian, no matter what happens, you stay in the car, understand?" he commanded. "If something happens to me, you use the cell phone and call Otou-san for help. Got it?"  
  
            "Hai!"  
  
            "Don’t unlock the doors for anything."  
  
            "Hai."  
  
            The two Cree on the same side of the street seemed upset by his actions and the woman ventured a step forward. He snarled a warning and jumped up onto the roof of the Subaru, his hand reflexively going to Kenshuga at his side. Seeing him crouched on top of the vehicle made them back up a step or two, and he whirled to see that the two men on the other side of the street had backed away as well. Turning back to the Cree because they were closer, he eyed them warily, his fingers twitching on the hilt of his sword, and they stared at each other for several moments. Then the woman glanced at the others across the street again and shook her head slightly. He rounded to see that the men had moved closer to the curb and looked like they might be thinking about crossing.  
  
            He bared his teeth and growled. "Stay back!"  
  
            The men raised their hands but did not step away from the curb. One of them even stepped forward.  
  
            "No!" he heard the woman on his side of the street call, but he'd had enough.  
  
            He drew Kenshuga, flashing the blade in the afternoon sunlight and earning several frightened stares from other passersby.  
  
            "I said **_stay back!_** " he roared, and the man who had taken a step forward scrambled backwards.  
  
            He knew his father would know he had drawn the sword. Being that it was made from his fang, Inuyasha always knew when one of the blades was pulled from its sealing sheath. Sure enough, the cell phone in the car began to ring less than a minute later. He heard Ian answer and begin speaking in hushed tones.  
  
            "Daddy," Ian's voice said. "No. I'm in the car. Aniki's on the roof. On the roof. Of the car. I don’t know what's wrong. Aniki told me to get in the car and not unlock the doors for **_anything_**. There were people on the street, Daddy. No. They smelled like humans." There was a pause, then Ian spoke again. "There are four of them Daddy. Two across the street and two on the corner. They look funny, Daddy. They have long hair and smell like leather. I don’t know. Aniki!? Aniki, Daddy wants to know what's going on."  
  
            He didn't want his watchers to know what he was saying so he answered in Japanese, knowing Ian spoke both Japanese and English fluently.  
  
            "Four humans. Watching but not threatening. Don’t like it."  
  
            He waited, knowing his father would have something to say.  
  
            "Okay, Daddy," Ian replied, then answered in Japanese, "Go to Okaa-san's office. Don’t lead them to the house."  
  
            He nodded even though he knew neither Ian nor his father could see him. It was obvious that his father was worried about the humans possibly following them to their home.  
  
            _'Good idea,'_ he agreed. "Okay."  
  
            He sheathed Kenshuga and hopped down off the roof of the car, unlocking the door and starting the engine with his remote.  
  
            "Stay back," he growled again, then he threw open the car door and leaped in, slamming it shut behind him.  
  
            Shoving the car into gear, he spun tires as he veered into traffic and cut off an oncoming truck that honked at him as he screeched away. Ian handed him the phone timidly and he grabbed it from his little brother's grasp.  
  
            "What the fuck is going on?!" his father's voice demanded through the speaker.  
  
            "I don't know. I was picking up Ian from school when all of a sudden four Natives showed up and started watching us."  
  
            "Natives?" Inuyasha repeated.  
  
            "Two looked Cree. The others… they were different."  
  
            "Cree huh? Okay. What else happened?"  
  
            "That was it. One got too close so I drew Kenshuga."  
  
            "Where are you now?"  
  
            "We're in the car. I'm headed for Okaa-san's office."  
  
            "Good. Stay there until I get there. Do not. I repeat, **_do not_** leave your mother's office until I get there. Understand me, pup?"  
  
            "I understand," he confirmed, ears flattening at being called 'pup.'  
  
            "I will call your mother and she will be expecting you."  
  
            "Okay."  
  
            There was a short pause and he heard his father take a deep breath. "You did good, Yukio."  
  
            The praise warmed him from the inside and soothed his earlier ire. "Thanks, Otou-san. All I did was protect my brother."  
  
            "I know, but you did everything right. I'll see you at Kagome's office."  
  
            "Hai," he agreed.  
  
            "Okay, lemme call your mother. I'll talk with you when I get there."  
  
            "Okay."  
  
            He hung up the cell phone and put both hands on the steering wheel as he sped for Calgary. Thirty minutes later, he pulled into the parking lot of the shopping center where his mother shared her practice with Dr. Maggiano, the youkai fertility doctor who had helped them conceive Ian. The Spell of Normalcy cast on the clinic made the storefront look like a normal doctor’s office, and no one who wasn’t ‘in the know’ had any idea that the image was only an illusion.  
  
            His mother ran out of the front door as soon as he parked the car, her white physician’s coat hanging open over her green dress, and they were barely out of the vehicle before she was grabbing them both into hugs.  
  
            “Yukio! Yukio, what happened? Your father said you were being watched!”  
  
            He nodded, putting his arm around her shoulders as he ushered both her and Ian towards the safety of the building.  
  
            “Hai, Okaa-san,” he answered and proceeded to tell her everything that had happened as they entered the medical suite and headed towards Kagome’s private office.  
  
            She calmed down considerably after he was finished recounting his tale, and her face grew thoughtful. “Hmmmm. I wonder what they wanted,” she mused.  
  
            “I don’t know, but I wasn’t about to take any risks with Ian.”  
  
            “Oh yes, of course. Better to be safe than sorry. If it was Cree we knew, they should have known not to approach you like that, but we haven’t had much contact with them since Joseph Talking-Wolf died,” she noted.  
  
            “Yeah,” he admitted, remembering the cheerful old man.  
  
            “Anyway, your father will be here soon. You know the way he drives. He’ll make the whole 300km trip in two and a half hours.”  
  
            “He told me to wait here with you until he got here.”  
  
            His mother agreed. “Yes. In the meantime, I suggest you make yourselves comfortable. I have a few more patients to see before the end of my day. Ian, sweetie, do you have homework?”  
  
            “Yes Mommy,” the pup answered.  
  
            “Alright. Why don’t you sit at Mommy’s desk and do your homework. If you have trouble ask Aniki to help you, okay?”  
  
            Ian gave them both Soulful Puppy-Dog Eyes(TM) that he had inherited from his father so well. “But Aniki said we would go for burgers…”  
  
            Kagome laughed and rolled her eyes. “Well, I don’t think it would be a good idea for you and Aniki to leave the office right now, sweetie. Why don’t you and Aniki pick something out of a take-away menu and call to have it delivered?”  
  
            “Mommy, were those humans bad people?” the pup asked suddenly.  
  
            Her face softened and Yukio saw her smooth back Ian’s silver hair. “I don’t know, sweetheart. That’s why Daddy had you and Aniki come here.”  
  
            “So we could protect you Mommy?”  
  
            His mother smiled gently. “Exactly, sweetheart.”  
  
            Yukio rubbed his hands together and sat next to his little brother. “Okay, otouto. I don’t know about you but I guard better on a full stomach. What’s say we order a pizza?”  
  
            Ian screwed up his little nose. “I wanted a burger.”  
  
            “Here. There’s a new delivery service that picks up food from local restaurants,” Kagome said, handing him a pamphlet for a business that called itself ‘Menus to Go.’ “I think Hometown Burgers is one of the places on their list.”  
  
            “Cool!” Ian enthused, practically ripping the brochure from his hands. “Whee! I want a Super Burger with cheese and onions. And curly fries. And a coke. Vanilla Coke.”  
  
            “Heh, you don’t want much do you?” he mused, smiling.  
  
            Their mother snickered and gave him a pat on his shoulder. “I’ll leave you to it. I need to get back to work.” She kissed Ian on the cheek. “Love you both.”  
  
            “Love you, Mommy.”  
  
            “I love you too, Okaa-san.”  
  
            “Let me know if your father gets here before I’m finished seeing patients.”  
  
            “I will,” he promised.  
  
            She gave him a final smile and wave, then left the office. He took the menu from Ian and leafed through it.  
  
            “Okay, one Super Burger with cheese and onions. What kind of cheese? Yellow American, Swiss, Cheddar, Colby or Pepper-Jack?”  
  
            “Ummm. Cheddar.”  
  
            “Cheddar it is.”            
  
            “What are you gonna get, Aniki?”  
  
            “Hmmmm. I think I’m gonna order their Double Cheeseburger with mushrooms and Swiss cheese.”  
  
            “Mushrooms? Yuck!”  
  
            “Hey, don’t knock mushrooms, otouto.”  
  
            Ian made a face. “They’re all squishy and icky. And my teacher tells us they’re related to… to… what’s the green stuff that grows on trees?”  
  
            “Fungus,” he supplied, suppressing a grin.  
  
            “Yeah, they’re related to that stuff.”  
  
            “Hey, some fungus can taste very good,” he corrected, waggling his eyebrows and licking his lips.  
  
            “That’s gross.”  
  
            Yukio lost his battle and laughed out loud.  
  
             
  
            Two hours later they were sitting in the office with their mother, Ian doing his homework, when Inuyasha walked in. He was dressed in his customary jeans, casual shirt, and Birkenstocks and he carried something in his left hand.  
  
            “Inuyasha.” “Otou-san.” “Daddy!” They all greeted at once.  
  
            “They followed you,” his father announced without preamble, placing the items in his hand on the desk.  
  
            An intricately beaded wampum belt and a beautiful hand-tooled woman’s silver hair clasp decorated with turquoise and carnelian now lay on the blotter.  
  
            “Those were on the windshield of the Subaru, tucked under the wiper,” he clarified.  
  
            Yukio whistled softly. “Now I am very, very glad I came here instead of going home.”  
  
            Inuyasha nodded. “You would have led them right to our front door.”  
  
            Ian picked up the wampum belt. “What are these, Daddy?”  
  
            “That’s a wampum belt, Ian,” Inuyasha explained. “Some Native people make them and use them for decoration or money.”  
  
            “Money?” the pup repeated. “Funny money.”  
  
            “The other is jewelry for a lady’s hair,” Yukio added. “But the Natives around here don’t make things like that. Jewelry like that comes from Natives far to the south.”  
  
            “American Southwest would be my guess. Confirms what you said about two being Cree and two being different.”  
  
            “Yeah, but why would they leave them on the car?” he asked.  
  
            “They’re peace offerings. They’re telling us that they don’t mean any harm and they want to talk. Whatever it is must be important. That wampum is valuable, the beadwork is exquisite, and my guess is this silver is sterling with genuine turquoise and carnelian. Whatever it is they want from us, it must be big because they’re willing to give up wealth for it,” Kagome answered, picking up the clasp.  
  
            “And many of those people don’t have much to begin with,” he sighed. “Now I feel bad.”  
  
            “Don’t. You didn’t know what they were after. They could have been carrying weapons,” his father insisted.  
  
            “Not firearms. I didn’t smell any gunpowder.”  
  
            “Doesn’t matter.”  
  
            “Did they try to talk to you at all, Yukio?” his mother asked.  
  
            He shook his head. “Not really, but then again I didn’t give them much of a chance to say anything.”  
  
            “You did the right thing,” Inuyasha repeated. “You didn’t know them and it was best not to risk the pup.”  
  
            He nodded. “That was my thought. They weren’t particularly threatening, but they weren’t obviously friendly either. The two across the street from me wouldn’t look me in the eye.”  
  
            “That might not have been what you thought it was. Some tribes view direct eye contact as impolite,” his mother pointed-out.  
  
            “Whatever the reason, they made me very nervous. I may not have known them, but they knew me. They knew what I was. I’ve no doubt about that,” he said with conviction.  
  
            Inuyasha grunted in agreement and crossed his arms over his chest.  
  
            “So what do we do now? Do we talk to them?” he asked, looking at his parents.  
  
            “If they’re willing to leave their baubles on a car windshield, they’re probably watching. If they come out when we try to leave, I want you to come back in here with Kagome and Ian and lock the doors until I call for you,” Inuyasha answered firmly.  
  
            “Okay.”  
  
            Kagome looked at her watch. “It’s almost seven now. Should we try to go?”  
  
            “Yeah. Pup’s gonna be tired soon and want to go to bed,” his father replied.  
  
            “I’m not tired,” Ian insisted, but punctuated it with a yawn.  
  
            “Of course you’re not, baby,” Kagome cooed, hugging the pup from behind.  
  
            “Besides, we gotta protect Mommy.”  
  
            Inuyasha reached out and rubbed Ian on the head. “Oyaji’s here now, pup. You leave the protecting to me.”  
  
            Ian grinned up at his father. “Okay.”  
  
            Taking a deep breath, Inuyasha gave a sharp nod. “Let’s go.”  
  
            Kagome picked up her purse while Ian repacked his book bag, and they headed out. The sun was beginning to set, casting long shadows on the asphalt and sparsely landscaped grounds. They weren’t two meters away from the entrance when Yukio stopped and sniffed.  
  
            “They’re here,” he said, casting around to track the direction of the scent. He pointed towards the back corner of the parking lot. “Over there.”  
  
            Inuyasha came to stand next to him and sniffed as well, his mouth flattened into a tight line.  
  
            “Kagome, give me the wampum and the hair thing,” his father requested, holding out his hand.  
  
            Yukio watched as his mother dug into her purse, pulled out the items and placed them in Inuyasha’s palm.  
  
            “Yukio, take them back inside. I’ll handle this.”  
  
            He agreed and did as he was ordered, ushering his mother and little brother back into the medical office. They locked the door, but stayed to watch the parking lot through the glass. They saw Inuyasha stalk over to the Subaru and hop up onto its roof, sitting with arms and legs crossed and facing the far end of the lot. A few tense moments later, they saw movement from within a late model minivan parked in that part of the lot and five figures emerged from the vehicle. They waited for a few seconds, then slowly began to approach the Subaru where Inuyasha waited.  
  
            _‘Five. There were four before…’_ he thought, his brow furrowed. The fifth was another woman and she was carrying something on her back. Beside him, he heard his mother gasp.  
  
            “That’s a cradleboard,” she breathed. “She… she’s carrying a baby!”  
  
            His mother was out the door before he could stop her and running across the parking lot.  
  
            “Okaa-san! Wait!” _‘Shit! Otou-san is going to kill me!’_  
  
  
  
********  
  
  
  
            Inuyasha took a deep sniff as the humans got out of the minivan, smelling for anything suspicious. There were six distinct scents: three male, two female and one pup: a hanyou pup that smelled odd.  
  
            _‘Hmmm. Yukio said there were four, and he didn’t mention a pup. My guess is the woman with the pup hung back the first time.’  
  
_             He waited, keeping his body still and his face expressionless, as they approached him warily. It was easy to see which of the five were the Cree Yukio had spoken of, and they led the small party while the others followed, the woman with the pup bringing up the rear. They were just about to him when Kagome blew past him in a blur of green and white.  
  
            _‘What the fuck?’_ “Oi!”  
  
            She ignored him and headed directly for the woman with the pup.  
  
            “It’s the baby, isn’t it?” she blurted, not even bothering with pleasantries or introductions.  
  
            The party stopped and stared, shocked speechless.  
  
            “Is there something wrong? Is it sick?” she went on, her hands clasped in front of her.  
  
            “Oi! Kagome!” he complained. _‘Damn woman and her pups!’_  
  
            His daughter Asame, the psychologist, had once tried to explain Kagome’s penchant for pups. She had said that some women just naturally took to child-rearing and motherhood, and had a very strong maternal instinct. Kagome was one of those women and as such, she would always go ape-shit over a pup. Just his luck.  
  
            “N… no…” the woman with the pup stammered, her eyes wide.  
  
            “Kagome!” he bellowed.  
  
            “Inuyasha, they have a baby,” she replied in Japanese.  
  
            “I know damn well they have a pup with them!” he yelled back in Japanese. “That’s not the point! Get away from them now!”  
  
            “But the baby might need medical care!”  
  
            “Get away from them! Go back inside!”  
  
            “No! Osuwari!” she commanded then frowned when nothing happened. “Damn, I forgot that doesn’t work anymore.”  
  
            He jumped down from the Subaru and stalked over, furious. “Damnit, Kagome! Do as I say, bitch!”  
  
            “Don’t call me a bitch!”  
            “I wouldn’t call you a bitch of you stopped acting like one and let me protect you!”  
  
            “What’s there to protect me from? They have a baby with them!”  
  
            “The pup could be a ruse!” he seethed.  
  
            “Who would use a baby as a ruse?” she countered, just as angry.  
  
            He blinked at her in disbelief. “Uh, **_Naraku?_** ” he reminded.  
  
            His answer stopped her for all of a second before she was off again. “ ** _Besides_** Naraku? No one’s used a baby like that since!”  
  
            “It’s always smart to be cautious! Besides, that pup is a hanyou!”  
  
            She whirled to look at the woman with the pup. “A hanyou? Why didn’t you tell me that right away?” she demanded, rounding on him again.  
  
            “Because you were too busy ignoring my orders!”  
  
            “ ** _Your_** orders?! Since when do you order me around?”  
  
            “When I’m trying to protect you, bitch!”  
  
            “Stop calling me a bitch, you stupid baka!”  
  
            “Baka? Me a baka? Have you looked in the mirror lately?!”  
  
            “Looked in the mirror… Oooooo, you rude jerk! Baka! Baka! Baka!”  
  
            “Kagome-e-e-e!” he growled warningly.  
  
            “Don’t you use that tone with me Fushikenwa Inuyasha!”  
  
            He snarled, baring his teeth. “I’ll use whatever tone I damn well please with you, bitch!”  
  
            “Ooooo, what I wouldn’t do for a subduing spell right now! I’d sit you so hard, there’d be a hole the size of Edmonton in this parking lot!”  
  
            “Well too bad you took it off me! I warned you not to! Tough luck, bitch!”  
  
            “ ** _Stop calling me a bitch!!_** ”  
  
            “Umm. Excuse me…” the Cree male interrupted tentatively.  
  
            “ ** _What?!_** ” they both yelled in unison, then froze, realizing that they’d been screaming at each other in Japanese for the past two minutes.  
  
            Kagome blushed deep red. “Oh. Um, gomen nasai,” she apologized.  
  
            He took her embarrassment as an opportunity to shove her behind him, placing himself in the defensive position.  
  
            “You deal with me,” he commanded in English. “Who are you and what do you want?”  
  
            “Inuyasha! Don’t be rude!” he heard her scold him from behind in Japanese.  
  
            “Why not? I’m a rude, stupid hanyou, aren’t I?” he shot back, also in Japanese, noting that the Natives were becoming glassy-eyed from all the language switching.  
  
            He was certain she would have answered him, probably very colorfully, if Yukio hadn’t grabbed her from behind and put a hand over her mouth.  
  
            _‘Oh thank god.’_ :Good pup.:  
  
            “Okaa-san,” he heard his eldest say in soothing tones. “Otou-san is just trying to keep us safe. It’s only natural for him to be suspicious and wary. If he wasn’t, then he wouldn’t be fit to be Alpha.”  
  
            Thankfully, Yukio’s words seemed to work, because he heard her settle down. ‘ _That’s my pup. You know exactly how to handle your mother when she’s in a snit._ ’  
  
            He turned his attention to the humans and crossed his arms over his chest.  
  
            “You haven’t answered me,” he said firmly, switching back to English.  
  
            The Cree male held up his hands to show that he was unarmed. “Tansi,” he said in greeting. “I am David Papin. This is my cousin Emma Gladue. With us are Michael Etsitty, Billy Redhouse, and Lori Piestewa of the Navajo Nation. We come in peace to speak with you.”  
  
            “Yeah? What do you want?” he demanded. “The Navajo Nation is down in Arizona. That’s a long way to bring a young hanyou pup.”  
  
            “Hanyou?” David repeated.  
  
            “What that pup is. The English words would be half-demon.”  
  
            “Half-demon. Yes, the child is…”  
  
            “Coyote is this baby’s father,” the woman with the pup interrupted. Lori he thought her name was.  
  
            “Coyote?” _‘Well that explains the odd scent.’  
  
_             “Is he sick? Is that why you wanted to talk to us? Did you find out that I’m a pediatric hanyou doctor?” Kagome asked, stepping forward to stand beside him.  
  
            The Navajo looked nervously amongst themselves.  
  
            “The baby is not ill,” Lori replied. “But he is the reason why we are here. We came to ask for your help.”  
  
            “May I see him?” Kagome requested.  
  
            The woman with the pup nodded and turned around so that Kagome could approach the cradleboard. He watched her undo the hide flaps to uncover the tiny pup that lay strapped into the carrying pouch.  
  
            “Ohhh… kawaii. So cute…” she started then gasped. “Kami-sama, this baby is so young! He can’t be more than two weeks old.”  
  
            “He was born ten days ago in my village,” one of the Navajo men, Michael, explained.  
  
            “Ten days?! This baby is only ten days old? Where is his mother? Oh… oh no. Did she?...” She couldn’t finish and he knew where her mind had gone.  
  
            “My sister is fine. She is still in Arizona,” Michael answered.  
  
            “In Arizona? You took this pup from its mother?” he barked. “It’s too early to separate them. The pup needs his mother’s milk.”  
  
            “Is there a problem? Is he not eating? Is he failing to thrive?” Kagome asked.  
  
            “N…no. He eats well and has gained weight since he was born,” Lori replied tentatively.  
  
            “Then what’s…”  
  
            “Let’s go inside,” he interrupted, uncomfortable with having an unconcealed hanyou infant out in the open, sunset or no sunset.  
  
            Kagome readily agreed and began leading the way back to the medical office. “Yes. We should get him inside. It’s no good for a hanyou or youkai to be out without a concealment spell.”  
  
            “Concealment spell?” Michael asked.  
  
            “An illusion to hide the hanyou features like his ears,” Kagome explained. “All hanyous and full demons living in this age need one in order to blend in.”  
  
            “Blend in? You mean, you don’t look the way that you do?” Billy asked, speaking for the first time.  
  
            “Well, I don’t have one, but that’s because I’m human. Inuyasha and Yukio, however…”  
  
            “I can see through it a little,” Emma admitted. “They… shimmer. Their hair is… white?”  
  
            “Sort of. It’s more silver than white. You must have some Talent if you can see through the spell a little bit,” Kagome commented.  
  
            “I… I don’t know,” Emma said.  
  
            “It’s not unusual,” his mate reassured her. “Lots of people have Talent in one form or another.”  
  
            They had reached the door of the medical office. Ian was standing inside the building, his small hands pressed to the glass of the door. The pup stepped back when he reached out to pull the door open, but found it was locked.  
  
            _‘At least they had the sense to leave the damn door locked. Shit, Yukio left the pup alone,’_ he thought, scowling.  
  
            “Damn,” he heard Kagome curse. “I left my keys in my office. Ian, honey, open the door please?”  
  
            He saw the pup look wide-eyed at the humans behind them and shake his head.  
  
            “It’s okay, sweetheart. It’s safe to open the door,” Kagome soothed.  
  
            “Oi, pup. Open the door,” he ordered. :Obey Leader-male.:  
  
            Ian didn’t look convinced but obeyed, reaching up to press on the door handle and open it. He slipped his hand into the open crack and pulled the door the rest of the way open to let them in.  
  
            :Good pup,: he praised as Ian ran to his side and hid behind him.  
  
            “Come this way, please,” Kagome said to their ‘guests’ as she led the way back into her office.  
  
            He waited until they were all in before closing the door and making sure it was still locked behind him. Yukio fell in beside him as they took up the rear, and he saw his eldest give him an apologetic look.  
  
            :Pup sorry,: Yukio said, then added in Japanese, “She just ran out.”  
  
            “It’s okay,” he replied in Japanese. “No one can control your mother when she sets her mind on something.”  
  
            Once in the rear of the building, Kagome detoured from her office, after picking up her keys, and opted instead to bring their group to the staff lunch room because it was larger and had a table with a number of chairs.  
  
            “Please sit down. Would you like something to drink?” his mate asked politely.  
  
            “We are fine, thank you,” the male Cree, David, replied.  
  
            “I’ll get water for all of us just in case,” she said, opening the refrigerator in the room and pulling out a pitcher to fill with ice water. “In the meantime, I’ll introduce myself. I’m Kagome Fushikenwa, and this is my mate Inuyasha, and my sons Yukio and Ian. Ian is the one hiding behind his father.”  
  
            “We are pleased to meet all of you and glad that you agreed to speak with us,” David replied.  
  
            “Yes, we are sorry that we caused you distress earlier today, and apologize for anything we may have done to upset you,” Michael added.  
  
            “It would have been better if just one of you had come at first. We are, by nature, a very protective and suspicious race,” Yukio explained.  
  
            “That had been the initial plan, however, it didn’t quite work out that way,” the female Cree, Emma, answered.  
  
            “If the woman carrying the pup had come alone, I wouldn’t have felt so threatened,” Yukio added.  
  
            Inuyasha snorted. “What is it with you two? You automatically assume that a pup being present means there isn’t a threat! It’s the oldest trick there is! Pretend to be something helpless then turn around and **_eat_** whatever it is that comes along to help!”  
  
            “Hmmm, that’s funny. I thought the oldest trick there is was a woman dropping her kimono to distract the man and get him to let down his guard,” Kagome quipped back in Japanese as she placed the pitcher of ice water and a stack of plastic cups on the table.  
  
            Yukio choked and shook his head.  
  
            “Feh!” he sniffed, grumbling.  
  
            The one carrying the pup took the carrier off her back and lifted the pup out of it. Now in the light it was easy to see his hanyou features. The pup had puppy ears just like most canine-youkai crosses and medium grey hair, and he had big amber eyes that were more brown than gold  
  
_‘Damn, it’s tiny. What the hell were they thinking!?’  
  
_             As soon as he was taken from his carrier, the pup started wailing. The woman tried to settle him but he refused to be comforted.  
  
            _‘Scared. Confused. Missing his mother. These stupid humans haven’t got a clue._ ’  
  
            When the pup kept crying, Kagome opened her arms and reached for it.  
  
            “Here, I’ll take him. I’ve had lots of practice with hanyou babies,” she offered.  
  
            The Native woman handed Kagome the pup and she held it close. His heart filled with pride when he heard her bark softly, telling the pup in a language he was born knowing that he was safe and no one would hurt him. The pup responded by ceasing his wails, although he kept up the small, hiccupping whines.  
  
            “How did you do that?” the woman asked, amazed.  
  
            “All canine-youkai and hanyous are born knowing the basics of canine language. I told him that he was safe and no one would hurt him. He’s also missing his mother. Canine-hanyous imprint on their mother’s scent within a few hours of birth. He knows none of you are her and that she isn’t here. He’s understandably frightened and confused,” Kagome explained, then frowned when the pup started to root at her chest and mewl pitifully.  
  
_‘He’s hungry…’  
  
_             “He’s also hungry,” she noted, giving voice to his thoughts.  
  
            The woman… Lori, he reminded himself, rummaged in her bag, and pulled out a bottle.  
  
            “We’ve been feeding him this.”  
  
            “Hmmm, do you have the original can or jar?” Kagome asked, looking at the milky liquid in the bottle.  
  
            “Yes,” Lori answered, holding out a brightly colored can with a drawing of a pup on the front.  
  
            Kagome took it from her and read the ingredients. “Hmmm. This is no good. Hanyou babies have different nutritional requirements than human ones. This formula has too much wheat gluten in it and not enough protein. It’s likely to give him terrible gas as well.”  
  
            Lori nodded. “He… he has been unhappy.”  
  
            “Colicky?”  
  
            “Yes.”  
  
            Kagome nodded. “I’m not surprised. Yukio, sweetheart, could you please mix up a cup of Mammalian Han-i-lac for me? There should be a box of powder in the cupboard there.”  
  
            He saw his eldest nod, go to the cabinet his mate had indicated, and pull out a box of instant formula for pups. He frowned as he watched Yukio mix the formula with warm water and put it in a bottle that mimicked a teat. Pups should have their mother’s milk, especially ones that young.  
  
            “Why isn’t the pup with its mother? Why didn’t she come too?” he asked, sitting cross-legged on the table.  
  
            He didn’t give a shit about manners right now because he was putting two-and-two together and he didn’t like the “four” he got very much. Ian took the chair behind him, still hiding from view as much as possible.  
  
            Once again the Navajos looked uncomfortable, and the feeling that his “four” was really going to make him angry increased.  
  
            “We thought it would be better if she stayed at home. We hoped it would help… ease the separation,” the one called Michael explained tentatively.  
  
            “Ease the separation?” Kagome repeated, feeding the pup with the bottle.  
  
            Michael cleared his throat nervously. “Yes. We… we are here to ask you to take this child and raise it.”  
  
            He sputtered. “Wh… what?”  
  
            Kagome echoed him with a similar gasp. “Excuse me?”  
  
            “You’re taking the pup away from his mother?” Yukio blurted.  
  
            “You want us to adopt him?” Kagome asked, aghast. “ ** _Why?_** ”  
  
            The sudden upset in the room made the pup stop eating and begin to cry. Ian jumped off the chair he was sitting on and crawled under the table. Kagome struggled to comfort the pup and settle him back down to eat. He turned to the one called Michael and glared.  
  
            “Explain yourself. What do you mean? Why did you take this pup away from his mother?”  
  
            He saw the man swallow hard. “The child is, as you called him, a hanyou. In my tribe, he is a witch child because his father is believed to be a Skinwalker.”  
  
            “Skinwalker?” he repeated.  
  
            “A witch. An evil witch who puts on the skins of animals and casts spells on unsuspecting victims. They can shape-shift and take the form of any animal or person they want,” the other Navajo male, Billy, answered.  
  
            He snorted. “This pup’s father is definitely a youkai. Youkai may have powers but they’re not witches.”  
  
            “You said his father was Coyote,” Kagome added.  
  
            “Yes,” Michael agreed. “But in my tribe there is coyote, who can be a Skinwalker, and Old Man Coyote who is one of the Original People and is very powerful. Coyote can bring both evil and good, but He is a trickster and usually brings more bad luck than fortune. My people go to great lengths to avoid coyote tracks and dens so as not to touch anything that might be His.”  
  
            “So this mating is not looked on with much favor,” Kagome commented.  
  
            Michael shook his head. “There are those, like my father, who believe my sister was tricked by a Skinwalker into bearing his witch child. There are others who believe that Old Man Coyote is the father and fear He will bring bad luck to our people. My grandmother tells a tale handed down to her from her grandmother of a… a hanyou child born to the People. The girl’s father killed it, and Coyote responded by slaughtering the sheep and burning all the crops so hundreds of the People starved. No one wants a witch child in the village, but they are afraid to kill it. Still, my father almost killed him on the night he was born and he has said that my sister cannot keep him.”  
  
            “Why us?” he demanded.  
  
            Michael looked to David who nodded. “Michael and I go to the same college. One night we went out drinking and he told me about his sister’s pregnancy. I remembered that my kin in Alberta told tales of a family of half-dogs that lived there so I told Michael that maybe my relatives could help his sister. When the baby was born and Michael called me to tell me that his father was going to either kill the baby or force his sister out, I contacted my cousins living up here.”  
  
            The Cree woman nodded. “My grandfather was Joseph Talking-Wolf.”  
  
            Kagome looked at her. “I thought your face looked slightly familiar. Your grandfather was a good man.”  
  
            Emma lowered her eyes. “Thank you. He had many good things to say about you and your tribe.”  
  
            He heard Yukio snicker at the word ‘tribe.’  
  
            “Tribe? Well, we do have quite a tribe don’t we?” Kagome teased him lightly.  
  
            “Feh,” he answered.  
  
            “But there is one thing I don’t understand. If I remember correctly, the Navajo trace lineage through the mother’s line. Ultimately, the one who would have the power to decide whether the baby can stay in the village is his mother.”  
  
            Michael cleared his throat and Inuyasha knew that another bomb was about to be dropped.  
  
            “That is true. However, my sister is only fifteen.”  
  
            “Fifteen!” Kagome gasped. “Oh kami-sama…”  
  
            “Our mother is dead so she can’t speak for the child. I know my grandmother would do it, but her health is frail and the baby would only be safe until she died or until the other villagers decided that keeping him is too great a risk.”  
  
            “Where is the pup’s father in all of this?” Yukio asked.  
  
            “Fifteen… Was she… was she violated by this youkai?” Kagome interrupted in a small voice.  
  
            “No. Tricked, perhaps, but not forced,” the Navajo assured them.  
  
            Kagome sighed with relief. “Well, that’s something at least. Still, what does he think about your father making your sister give up the baby?”  
  
            “We don’t know. Sara told me she hasn’t seen him in over two months,” Michael replied.  
  
            “That’s impossible. No youkai would abandon his pup if it wasn’t rape,” he insisted.  
  
            “At least, not in this day and age,” Kagome added. “Something isn’t right here.”  
  
            “What do you mean?” Lori asked.  
  
            Kagome looked down at the pup who was now sleeping in her arms. He’d forgotten how content she looked when holding a pup.  
  
            “Well, first of all, most canine-youkai clans are monogamous. They take one mate for life and when that mate dies, then they can mate again if they so choose.”  
  
            He knew she had added the last bit for Yukio’s benefit because their eldest had been so reluctant in pursuing another mate since the death of his first.  
  
            _‘Not that I blame him after what Miaka put him through,’_ he thought dourly.  
  
            “I admit that I don’t know much about Coyote-youkai but I haven’t heard anything about them **_not_** being monogamous,” Kagome continued. “If this youkai has taken your sister for a mate then he **_should_** be very possessive and protective of her. I’m assuming he knew he was going to be a father.”  
  
            The Navajo looked blankly at each other, but he scowled. “He knew. She wouldn’t have been able to keep it from him.”  
  
            “So something must have happened to the father otherwise he would have been present at the birth,” Kagome noted.  
  
            “Him or a member of his family so they could lay claim to the pup,” he confirmed.  
  
            “Lay claim?” Lori questioned.  
  
            “That’s the other thing that really bothers me about this. If the father couldn’t be present, then where is the rest of his family? It’s not like any youkai clan to let a hanyou baby go unclaimed.”  
  
            “Why?” Michael asked.  
  
            “Because in this age, babies like this one are highly prized. Many youkai clans are facing extinction and the only way to save their race is to interbreed with humans. There was a time when youkai were more plentiful that hanyous would be hunted and killed, but it’s not that way anymore. Someone from the father’s family **_should_** have come to claim the baby and take him, and your sister, if your village was a threat to them. The very fact that no one has come is highly unusual and makes me very worried,” Kagome explained.  
  
            “So you think something happened to Coyote?” Billy questioned.  
  
            “It certainly seems that way. Something must have happened to keep him from being there when the baby was born,” Kagome answered. “Inuyasha, we haven’t heard of any youkai being killed in America, have we?”  
  
            He shook his head. “No. Not recently.”  
  
            “Hmmmm…”  
  
            “Then Coyote or his family must not want the baby then,” Michael concluded. “Does that mean you will take him?”  
  
            “No,” Kagome answered before he could open his mouth.  
  
            _‘No?’_ “No?” he blurted.  
  
            “No?” he heard Yukio gasp.  
  
            “No?” the Navajo said in unison.  
  
            “No,” Kagome confirmed. “No one here has told me what the mother wants in all of this, but my guess is she wasn’t given a choice. Just because she is only fifteen doesn’t mean that she shouldn’t have a say. I won’t take this girl’s baby without talking to her first. I was sixteen when we got Yukio. He was my first baby. I would have died inside if someone had taken him away from me. No. I won’t do it.”  
  
            It took him a moment to process what his mate had just said because her refusal had come as such as shock to him. Replaying her answer in his head, he had to admit that he shouldn’t have been all that surprised. There were too many unanswered questions and no mother should be forced to give up her pup against her will.  
  
            “Inuyasha, we should go to Arizona. If something has happened to the baby’s father, it’s possible that his family doesn’t know he had a mate and child. Tetsu’s dragon relatives didn’t know about him until after we’d adopted him. As odd as it might sound, maybe this baby’s father kept them a secret,” she announced.  
  
            “Or he was a loner or the last of his clan,” Yukio offered.  
  
            Kagome looked at their son and nodded. “All the more reason to go there and see if we can’t figure out what’s going on.”  
  
            He hated to admit it because going to Arizona wasn’t on his top ten list of things he wanted to do with the rest of his week, but Kagome was right. It was unlikely that the humans would be able to figure this out without help, and the pup should be given the chance to stay with his mother. He sighed in resignation.  
  
            “Okay. Kagome, you take the hanyou pup and the Natives to The Fairmont in Banff. I’ll call ahead and make a reservation for you. It’s a Wednesday night so they shouldn’t be booked. Yukio, you bring Ian home and pick up an overnight bag for your mother then join her at the hotel. I’ll stay at the house and get things ready for the trip to Arizona.”  
  
            “Okay,” Yukio agreed.  
  
            “Ah… while we are very grateful for your generosity. We cannot accept your charity…” David began after the others had given him concerned looks.  
  
            “Charity? You think I’m being charitable?” he snapped back. “I’m not. It is very obvious that none of you humans have a clue about how to take care of a hanyou pup, and Kagome isn’t going to leave him. I, however, am not in the habit of bringing strangers to my home, and no amount of wampum or jewelry is going to make me trust you on the first day I’ve met you.”  
  
            He took the wampum belt and hair clasp out of his pocket and placed them on the table.  
  
            “I am a suspicious and protective bastard by nature, but it keeps my mate and pups alive so I don’t give a rat’s ass if it’s rude. Since Kagome isn’t about to leave the pup, and I’m not about to lead you to where we live, I’m left with two choices: either let her go to wherever you’re staying or put you up in a hotel. I choose the hotel because then I know exactly where she is and that she is in a safe place. I am sending my oldest son to be with her and protect her in my absence. And I’m telling you now that, if any of you try anything, he **_will_** kick your asses so fast you won’t know what hit you.”  
  
            He saw Yukio stand a little straighter and suppressed a smile.  
  
            “Have I made myself clear?” he asked.  
  
           He waited as the Navajo talked amongst themselves in their native language, then spoke with the Cree before facing him. They looked resolute but defiant.  
  
            “You have given us little choice,” Lori replied. “Then again, we Navajos are used to not being given choices. We accept your offer of a place to spend the night. After that, we will decide what to do once we have heard your plans.”  
  
            He ignored her slight and the thinly disguised bitterness in her voice. “Fair enough,” he agreed, picking up the gifts they had given him again. He knew it would be considered a terrible insult if he rejected their offerings.  
  
            “Do you have a car seat for him?” Kagome asked.  
  
            Lori shook her head and he saw his mate begin to lose her temper.  
  
            “You brought him all the way from Arizona and you didn’t bring a car seat? Did you fly up with him?” she questioned.  
  
            _‘They wouldn’t have flown. They wouldn’t have been able to afford it. These people have no money. It probably wiped them out just to pay for the gasoline up here. I wonder if they’ve eaten. They’re probably too proud to ask for help.’  
  
_             “No, we drove,” Lori replied, having the good sense to look chagrined.  
  
            He saw Kagome reining in her emotions and knew she was reaching the same conclusion that he had.  
  
            “All right,” she said with a heavy sigh. “Yukio, when you get back to the house…”  
  
            “Pull Ian’s car seat out of storage,” his eldest finished.  
  
            “Yes. And his sling.” She turned to the Navajo woman. “What type of diapers are you using on him? Cloth or disposable?”  
  
            “There’s a disposable one on him now. We were using cloth but…” Lori trailed off.  
  
            Kagome nodded. “I understand. Without a diaper service cloth can get complicated. Though as a general rule, cloth is better for hanyou babies. Disposables trap too much moisture against the skin. I have some hybrid diapers that blend the best of both worlds.” She handed the pup back to Lori. “Here. Take him while I get some things together.”  
  
            The Navajo woman accepted the pup and tried to shush him when he started to fuss.  
  
            “Talk to him,” Kagome suggested. “Canine-hanyou babies are born being able to see and hear. They also imprint on scent. When you carry him, if you must put him in the cradleboard, put something that smells like his mother in it with him. Do you have anything of the mother’s with you?”  
  
            Michael shook his head. “No.”  
  
            He scowled as he watched Kagome fluttering about the room. She’d gone to a supply cabinet against the far wall and was selecting items from it. He saw her pick up several boxes of pup formula and three packs of diapers, and put them in a carrying sack.  
  
            “You can’t treat this baby like a human baby,” he heard her say softly. “He’s not a human baby. He’s a hanyou baby. Hanyou babies have sharp senses and strong instincts from their youkai parent. You have to work with that. If you do, you’ll find things go a lot easier.”  
  
            The pup was still fussing and the woman holding him couldn’t seem to get him to settle down. Muttering curses under his breath, he stood up and walked over.  
  
            “Like this,” he instructed, taking the pup by the back of the neck.  
  
            He saw the woman’s eyes go wide when the pup immediately stopped moving. Then he started a low crooning that came up from the back of his throat, mimicking the sound a dog would make to express contentment, and the pup relaxed. It turned its head and looked at him, and he felt a spasm in his heart.  
  
_‘Pup’s only been out of the womb 10 days and I already feel sorry for it.’  
  
_             “When he fusses like that, do this and make that noise. That tells him to be quiet and relax,” he told her.  
  
            She gave him a small nod. “Thank you.”  
  
            Kagome put two plastic carrying sacks on the table. “Okay, that should do it for a few days at least. Now there’s just one more thing I need to do.”  
  
            She went back to the supply cabinet and took out a roll of mailing twine, then started rummaging on the shelves looking for something and he realized that she wanted to make a concealment anchor. Yukio must have realized it at the same time he did because he saw his eldest remove the talisman from around his neck.  
  
_‘The one Kagome’s grandfather gave him as a pup…’  
  
_             “Okaa-san, here. You can use this,” Yukio offered.  
  
            Kagome accepted the item with a grateful smile. “Thank you, sweetheart,” she said, taking the dark stone between her palms and concentrating energy into it. Then she put the charm around the pup’s neck and the pup’s features shifted to make it look like a Native human baby.  
  
            “How did you do that?!” Lori gasped.  
  
            “I cast a concealment spell into the stone. As long as he wears it, his hanyou features will be hidden. This is just a temporary one, but it’ll do until I can make a permanent one for him.”  
  
            “That is amazing,” Michael breathed, staring at the now dark-haired, dark-skinned pup.  
  
            Reaching behind him, he used his claw to slice a lock of his long hair from the base of his neck, noting their surprise when it changed color the moment it was disconnected from his body. His current illusion had him as a middle-aged Japanese man with shoulder-length black hair. The lock in his hand was more than twice that long and shimmered silver in the light. He gave the lock to Kagome.  
  
            “Use this for the rope.”  
  
            She gave him a look that said she knew he was just a big softie despite how rude and crass he tried to be, and he sent her back one that promised slow, painful death if she even so much as hinted at it.  
  
            “Thank you, Inuyasha,” she said, and put the lock in the breast pocket of her doctor’s coat, close to her heart.  
  
            “Alright, we’re ready to go then. Since you don’t have a baby seat, I’d like one of you to ride with me and hold the baby. Or better yet, someone drive my car and I’ll hold him.”  
  
            The one called Emma raised her hand. “I’ll drive.”  
  
            “Okay good. The rest of you can follow in your minivan. Does it need gas?” she asked, taking the drowsing pup from the female Navajo.  
  
            Michael nodded. “Yes.”  
  
            “Okay, mine does too so we’ll stop for gas first.”  
  
            “I’ll go home and get things ready for tomorrow. I’ll call The Fairmont on my cell,” he said.  
  
            Yukio coaxed Ian out from under the table and he watched the pup eagerly hop onto his big brother’s back.  
  
            “I’ll take Ian home, get a bag for Okaa-san and join her at the hotel.”  
  
            “Let’s go then,” he replied, indicating that they should leave.  
  
            Yukio went first, Ian clinging to his back, followed by the male Cree and the Navajos. The female Cree hung back, waiting for them, then walked slightly ahead as he and Kagome brought up the rear.  
  
            “Fill their tank and make sure they eat,” he said to his mate in Japanese.  
  
            “Hai,” she agreed. “I’d already decided to do that. They probably spent all their money just getting here.”  
  
            “Yeah.”  
  
            “They took a big risk, bringing him here. They had no idea what they were getting into,” she commented, looking down at the pup in her arms.  
  
            “You humans do lots of stupid things when you’re desperate.”  
  
            He smirked when she glared at him. “As if you’ve never done anything stupid,” she snorted.  
  
            He put his arm around her shoulders. “Before I met you? Never.”  
  
            She didn’t grace that with an answer as they walked out to their cars. Ten minutes later, the Cree woman was driving Kagome’s Saturn with the late model minivan following behind. Yukio was next in the Subaru and he came last in his Jeep. They turned out of the parking lot onto the main street when the traffic light turned green, and headed West out of Calgary.  



	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two  
  
  
  
            Because speed limits were a suggestion, and he opted for his Ninja when leaving the house, and because Kagome had stopped for gas and filled two vehicles, he was only five minutes behind his mother and the Natives in arriving at The Fairmont. Kagome was just signing the guest registration form at the “Ruby Club” desk- which was code for a youkai client- when he walked into the hotel lobby. Standing behind her, holding their sparse luggage and looking a little stunned by the grandeur of the castle-like hotel, were the five Natives and the hanyou pup.  
  
            “I’m here,” he announced as Kagome turned to face the rest of them.  
  
            “Hello, sweetheart. You got here awfully fast,” she commented. “Did you run every stop light and break the sound barrier all the way here?” she added sweetly in Japanese.  
  
            He gave her a wicked grin and raised his eyebrows. “I thought my driving habits were on your list of Things Mothers Don’t Need To Know.”  
  
            She rolled her eyes and slapped a room key against his chest. “Here. We’re on the tenth floor.”  
  
            He giggled as he took the pass key from her. “Love you, Kaa-san.”  
  
            She snorted. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Then she turned to the five humans who were still looking a bit shell-shocked, and handed them identical pass keys. “We’re in two adjoining one-bedroom suites. Here are your keys. I figured we’d get settled in, then order out for dinner.”  
  
            The humans looked at the keys in their hands but said nothing.  
  
            “The elevator’s this way,” his mother informed them, reaching over to take the hanyou pup from Lori’s hands, and leading the way over to the elevators.  
  
            Yukio tried to ignore the numerous stares they received from the staff and clientele as they passed through the lobby on the way to the elevators. Many of them saw the humans and their less-than-designer clothes, and looked down their noses in distain.  
  
            “My, this place has gone downhill. In my day, filth like that would have been stopped at the door,” one arrogant ram-youkai sneered as they passed.  
  
            He knew the Cree woman, Emma, had heard him because she flinched very slightly and her scent changed. For some reason, her unhappiness triggered his protective instincts and he whirled to face the glorified goat.  
  
            “Hold your tongue or I’ll rip it right out of your mouth,” he threatened, snarling and baring his teeth.  
  
            From the corner of his eye he saw Emma’s jaw drop a little bit and smiled inwardly until his mother called his name tersely.  
  
            “Yukio. Don’t bother with that idiot. He’s probably cranky because he hasn’t been milked today.”  
  
            The goat-youkai leered at her and licked his thin lips. “Are you volunteering?”  
  
            If he was going to say anything else, he never got the chance because Yukio had him by the throat and pinned to the wall in a heartbeat.  
  
            “Don’t you dare insult my mother,” he hissed.  
  
            “Whoa! Sit boy,” the goat-youkai choked. “Did someone let you off your leash?”  
  
            “I should rip off those puny horns of yours and let you bleed to death right here in this hallway,” he seethed.  
  
            “Is there a problem?” a new voice interrupted and he turned his head to see Susan, the assistant manager standing there. It took her all of three seconds to recognize him and his mother, and assess the situation of him holding the goat-youkai by the neck. “Oh! Mr. Fushikenwa. I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was you at first. And Mrs. Fushikenwa… Was this man bothering you?”  
  
            “Not really. He was just showing his poor manners,” Kagome replied coldly.  
  
            “Fushikenwa?” the goat-youkai squeaked, his eyes going wide.  
  
            He grinned maliciously. “Heard of us, have you?”  
  
            Susan moved to speak into her transmitter. “I’ll call security and have him ejected from the hotel.”  
  
            Yukio shook his head and abruptly let the jerk go. He fell to the floor in a heap at Yukio’s feet.  
  
            “Don’t waste your time with him, Suz. I don’t think he’ll be a problem anymore.”  
  
            “As you wish, Sir.”  
  
            “Let’s go, Yukio. I’m hungry and I’d like to go up to our room,” his mother said, turning away.  
  
            Casting one last withering glare at the goat-youkai, he followed her, ushering the staring humans ahead of him to the elevator. He knew they had heard what was said, but also knew that the concealment spell the goat had on him had kept them from seeing anything more than a flashy businessman.  
  
            “You didn’t have to do that. His prejudice is his burden to carry, not ours,” the Navajo woman, Lori said softly as they entered the elevator.  
  
            As usual when she spoke to him, or was listening to something he was saying, she dropped her eyes and looked away. All three of the Navajo did that, but the Cree maintained eye contact. He had quickly decided that it was a cultural thing, and that the Navajo viewed direct eye-contact as rude the way his mother had said some Native tribes believed.  
  
            “I won’t tolerate anyone insulting my mother or those under my protection. To give in to him would have shown weakness, and in the youkai world weakness is still something you don’t show to a potential enemy,” he answered firmly, but gently.  
  
            “Most youkai have a propensity for violence,” his mother explained. “Some rein it in better than others. That one was a goat-youkai. They’re known for being all brawn and no brains.”  
  
            “Goat-youkai?” the Navajo Michael repeated. “That means one of his parents was Goat?”  
  
            “A goat demon, yes,” Kagome confirmed.  
  
            “So that’s what you meant by ripping off his horns,” Emma commented.  
  
            He nodded. “He had two small ones coming from his forehead. They weren’t very big and hadn’t started to curl yet.”  
  
            “Which means he had youth to add to his stupidity,” his mother added.  
  
            “We couldn’t see his horns because he had a concealment spell on, right?” David asked.  
  
            “Exactly,” he confirmed.  
  
            The elevator dinged and the steel doors slid open, revealing the elegantly decorated hallway. The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel was once known as simply The Banff Springs Hotel and it had been built in 1886 by William Van Hume, one of Canada’s great Railroad Barons. Strategically placed overlooking the Bow Valley, it sported breathtaking views of the Rockies from a massive twelve-story Scottish castle design.  
  
            “This way,” his mother said, turning left and leading the way down the wide hallway.  
  
            They were going to a special section of the hotel reserved specifically for youkai clients and their guests; rooms that were never rented to a strictly human client or family. This ensured that the hotel’s ‘special’ clients were kept somewhat apart from the human ones, as much for the safety of the humans as the youkai. They turned a corner and went down to the end of the hall, and Kagome stopped at the last door.  
  
            _‘Hmm, corner unit. It’ll have the big French doors_ ,’ he thought happily.  
  
            “Your suite is next to ours. We’ll open the adjoining doors between them and make it one big, two-bedroom unit,” Kagome told them, slipping her passkey into the lock to open the door.  
  
            He watched as Emma mimicked Kagome’s actions and opened the suite next to theirs.  
  
            “Once you’re in, unlock and open the door to our suite,” Kagome instructed, entering the room.  
  
            He was just putting his bags down when the door to the adjoining suite opened and the five humans came over to their side. He had already opened the door in their suite so now they had essentially one unit available to them. It looked like Inuyasha had been smart and reserved two suites with two Queen-size beds and a pull out sofa each. Each suite had a separate bedroom with the beds and a small living room with the sleeper sofa. Both rooms were decorated in the style of the great European manor houses, and sported replicas of many antiques. The biggest difference was the unit he shared with his mother had an extra set of French doors that opened to the view of the Bow Valley. There was no balcony per se, just a wrought iron railing that prevented anyone from accidentally falling out of the hotel.  
  
            “This parlor is the size of two hogans in my village,” Michael commented, looking around.  
  
            Billy nodded. “Three families could easily live in this much space.”  
  
            He agreed. “It is a big room. The huts we lived in when I was a little pup were not even half the size. Even the house my father built my mother was considered monstrous by the villagers.”  
  
            “It is very grand, but why does anyone need so much?” Billy replied critically. “There is too much value put on things that do not matter.”  
  
            He nodded. “You’re absolutely right about that. Now, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m hungry. Pizza?”  
  
            Kagome came out of the bedroom carrying the pup. She had changed from her white coat and dress to a set of soft cotton pants and a long-sleeved grey T-shirt his father had obviously bought for her because it said “Life just hasn’t been the same since that house fell on my sister.”  
  
            “If you’re going to order pizza, I want white vegetarian with broccoli, spinach, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, onions, green peppers and feta cheese,” she said, breezing in, opening the in-room refrigerator and taking out a bottled water.  
  
            “No olives?” he quipped with a grin.  
  
            “Those too.”  
  
            “Okay, my mother wants… that. What would you guys like?”  
  
            The humans looked at each other and shook their heads. “Whatever you order for us is fine,” David replied.  
  
            “Well, I’m partial to the Meat Lover’s with pepperoni, sausage, ground beef and ham, but that’s just me.”             
  
            “Where would you be ordering from?” Emma asked.  
  
            “A little place in Canmore called Mel’s,” he answered.  
  
            “Mel’s?” Emma repeated, raising an eyebrow.  
  
            He grinned. “Yeah. They make the best pizza in Alberta, and it annoys some of the more stuck-up staff to have a little mom-n-pop pizza place deliver to The Fairmont Banff Springs,” he said, placing haughty emphasis on the hotel name.  
  
            Emma smiled. “I like mushrooms and extra sauce.”  
  
            “Okay, anyone else? Chicken? Hot peppers? Pineapple?” His questions remained unanswered, so he shrugged and picked up the phone. “Okay. But if you don’t like what I order, it’s your fault.”  
  
            He ended up ordering four pizzas: his mother’s vegetarian, his Meat Lover’s, Emma’s mushroom with extra sauce, and one additional large that was half plain and half sausage. He also got two orders of breadsticks, two six packs of Molson, and a 2-litre bottle of Coke. They were having a special.  
  
            While they were waiting for the pizza to arrive, a phone call came in from Inuyasha. The plan as his father detailed it was simple but long. He decided that the pup was too young to fly, which came as no surprise. Inuyasha often complained that if dog pups had to be 10-weeks old before they could be shipped anywhere, the same should hold true for human ones, not to mention hanyou or youkai offspring that were ten times more sensitive to pressure changes and altitude than human pups. As such, they would drive down to Arizona and the trip would take three days. He was already making arrangements for Tetsukazu to fly over from New York and watch Ian because he wanted Yukio to come with them for extra protection.  
  
            Another reason for driving was that it was still easier to cross the border by car rather than go through customs in a US airport, and Inuyasha didn’t want any trouble over the pup or his family coming into the States. Relations were still reserved between the two countries over the war in the Middle East (which the Americans were still fighting five years later) and the on-going construction of 5 new military bases on the US side of the border, just shy of Canadian territory.  
  
            Thank the Gods Tetsu had Seen a glimpse of the events of 9/11 a day beforehand and hadn’t been in New York when the planes struck the towers, otherwise he might have gotten caught up in it. As it was, when it happened no one knew that Tetsu had foreseen it and skipped town. No one could get in touch with him, he wasn’t answering his home phone or cell phone, and the whole family suffered 24 hours of pure anguish and panic until Tetsu showed up at the Alberta House door, exhausted from driving the entire way without stopping except for gas. He’d crossed the border in New York on September 10th and driven clear across Canada because he knew the US would be closing the gates. His brother hadn’t flown because his limited Sight had shown him airplanes but he didn’t know which ones were ‘safe’ and which ones weren’t. He’d never been so happy to see Tetsu in all his life, his father even had to wipe away a tear of joy, his mother, of course, had cried enough for all three of them.  
  
            The plan was presented and discussed. As it so happened, the Navajos were much happier with the driving plan. They had worried that his family would want to fly to Arizona and that left them wondering what to do with the minivan, which turned out not to belong to them, but to a village elder who had loaned it out. They also did not wish to be indebted to them any more than was absolutely necessary. David volunteered to drive back to the Enoch Cree Reserve where Emma lived and get some things she would need for the trip. Billy opted to go with him, presumably not comfortable staying in a place that was so obviously a statement of over-blown wealth. They would return in the morning about the same time Inuyasha would be getting there.  
  
            Plans made, Yukio gave the phone to his mother, knowing his parents would want to have a private talk because they would be spending the night apart. Kagome was just hanging up when the pizza arrived. Yukio grabbed four slices of Meat Lover’s and a bottle of beer then plopped down on the floor by the open French Doors to enjoy the cool mountain air while he ate. Kagome ate two slices of her vegetarian pizza then left the rest for the others while the Natives made sizable dents in the remaining two pizzas. Yukio watched David carefully to make sure he didn’t have more than one beer because he was driving, but he didn’t stop any of the others from drinking. Michael, Billy and Emma all had at least one beer, but Lori refused to touch it.  
  
            “Alcohol is the bane of my people,” she explained. “It has done almost as much damage to us as the Whites.”  
  
            He noticed neither Billy nor Michael had anything to say about that.  
  
            “You’re right, this is the best pizza in Alberta,” Emma commented, taking a bite from a slice of vegetarian pizza.  
  
            He grabbed a 5th slice of Meat Lover’s and another beer. “Told you,” he replied, consuming the slice in four bites and took a swig of his beer. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Emma shake her head. “What?”  
  
            “That’s your fifth slice.”  
  
            “So?”  
  
            She shook her head again. “Nothing.”  
  
            “What? You gonna say if I keep eating like this I’ll get fat?” he challenged, smirking.  
  
            Emma lowered her eyes and looked away, embarrassed. He grinned.  
  
            “Keh! My mother has been saying that about my father for years. It hasn’t happened yet.”  
  
            He was careful to say ‘years’ so as not to allude to his parents’ actual age. Since she knew they had been friends of her grandfather’s, she must have some idea of their longevity, but there was always that habitual caution. He was reluctant to lie, but that didn’t mean he had to tell the whole truth either. Behind him, he heard his mother giggle.  
  
            “Your father and his ramen,” she said fondly, rocking the pup gently as he nursed from his bottle. “I swear the two of you could eat a whole case in one sitting.”  
  
            “Just one case?” he jibed back.  
  
            Kagome rolled her eyes and smiled. He smiled back, reached over to pick up a piece of her vegetarian, and took a bite.  
  
            “Yuck!” he spat, grimacing. “How do you **_eat_** that stuff?”  
  
            “How do you eat half a dozen danishes for breakfast every morning?” she countered.  
  
            He considered her words and shrugged. “Point,” he conceded.  
  
            “So we’ll leave in the morning?” David asked, finishing off the last slice of sausage pizza.  
  
            He nodded. “Yeah.”  
  
            “Inuyasha will be here by 10am. We’ll leave shortly thereafter. Check out is at 11am,” Kagome added, burping the pup on her shoulder. “Hmmm, he needs changed.”  
  
            Lori stood and retrieved a diaper from one of the bags that they had brought from the medical office as Kagome got a towel from the bathroom to lay the pup on.  
  
            “Is there anything special about changing a… hanyou baby?” the Navajo asked.  
  
            Kagome smiled at her as she unwrapped the pup from his blanket and took him out of his soiled one-piece.  
  
            “Not really. Just make sure he is clean and dry before you put the new diaper on him. Hanyou babies aren’t as susceptible to sores and infections but if there’s too much moisture trapped against the skin, he could get a rash just like any baby. You’ll find him to be pretty easy to take care of once you understand his instincts. I’d take a hanyou baby over a human one on any day. They’re easy keepers, highly intelligent and develop almost three times as fast as a human infant.”  
  
            Now that the pup was naked, Yukio could see that he had claws on his fingers and on his toes, unlike inu-hanyous who only had claws on their hands. He could also see that the pup was painfully thin, and began to feel some of the anger his father must have been feeling at the pup’s situation.  
  
            _‘They didn’t know any better. They had no idea what they were dealing with. It isn’t their fault,’_ he reminded himself.  
  
            “You said he’s gained weight since he was born?” his mother questioned.  
  
            “Yes. But he was very small when he was born. He only weighed 6 pounds,” Lori answered.  
  
            “6 pounds? That’s very small for a hanyou baby. Was he premature?”  
  
            Lori shook her head. “Not that I know of.”  
  
            “The baby was born four days after his due date,” Michael replied.  
  
            Kagome shook her head. “I don’t know enough about coyote-youkai, but my guess would be that he’s underweight. I’m going to increase the frequency of his feedings and get as much han-i-lac in him as I can. How long did he nurse from his mother?”  
  
            “A week. We knew that a mother’s first milk is very important for a newborn,” Michael said.  
  
            _‘At least they knew that much,’_ he reasoned, then his heart sank. _‘They gave him a week with his mother then ripped him away from her. She must be… in agony.’_ He couldn’t imagine what the poor girl must be going through without her pup and the uncertainty of ever seeing her son again. _‘The sooner we get to the bottom of this, the better. I wouldn’t be surprised if Otou-san offers to take her in or sets her up in a place where she can stay with her pup.’  
  
_             His father was a good man who had strong feelings about family and pups. If this one and its teenage mother were in jeopardy, he knew his father would do whatever he could to make it right.  
  
            _‘I know they came to us in order to ask us to take the pup, but this might work out better than anyone ever hoped it could.’  
  
_             He stood and went into the bedroom, rummaging in the bag he had brought from the house, and returned carrying some clean clothes for the pup that he had taken out of Ian’s baby things.  
  
            “Oh, Ian’s ‘Dog-Do Happens’ shirt,” Kagome said with a smile as he gave her the shirt.  
  
            “I thought some of Ian’s stuff would fit him.”  
  
            Kagome finished changing the pup and slipped the shirt over his head. “Fit him? He’s practically swimming in it.”  
  
            She was right, the shirt swamped the poor little pup but the little guy didn’t seem to mind. He kicked and gave Kagome a smile for the first time. The smile she gave him back was bittersweet.  
  
_‘She wouldn’t mind having another pup to raise, but she knows he’s better off with his mother and father if they can keep him.’  
  
_             “Billy and I are going to go,” David announced.  
  
            “Alright. You know the way?” Kagome asked.  
  
            “I gave him directions,” Emma assured her.  
  
            “We’ll be back before 10am.”  
  
            Kagome nodded. “Have the front desk call up when you arrive.”  
  
            “We will.”  
  
            He stood, consolidated the remainder of the pizzas (except for his Meat Lover’s because he knew he’d finish it off later) and gave the box to Billy. “Here, this is too much for us.”  
  
            The Navajo man nodded his head in thanks and accepted the box. “Thank you.”  
  
            “We’ll see you in the morning.”  
  
            “Yes,” Billy agreed.  
  
            “Be safe,” Kagome said as the two men headed out the door.  
  
            Lori picked up the pup and held him. He thought his mother would protest but she didn’t seem to mind.  
  
            “If this child’s father is Coyote, what must we know?”  
  
            Kagome smiled and rubbed the pup’s ears. “Well, you can expect him to get up to all kinds of mischief. Coyote is a trickster after all.”  
  
            The pup sighed and closed his amber eyes, seemingly denying Kagome’s suggestion that he would be a troublemaker.  
  
            “Don’t let that innocent face fool you. He’ll be crawling his way into trouble before you know it.”  
  
            Lori smiled softly and brought the pup up to her shoulder. “Don’t all children do that?”  
  
            Kagome patted the pup’s back. “Not like this one, trust me.”  
  
            Lori chuckled. “Thank you for all of your help.”  
  
            “It’s no trouble. The baby’s health and safety come first.”  
  
            “If only all people believed as you do, the world would be a much better place.”  
  
            “The world changes one person at a time. If we all do what we can, then we help create the world we dream,” Kagome replied.  
  
            “You speak like a Medicine Woman.”  
  
            “I have been known as a miko in the past.”  
  
            “Miko?”  
  
            “A priestess of sorts in the Shinto faith.”  
  
            “Ah,” Lori answered, nodding. “I understand.”  
  
            Kagome gave a chuckle of her own and stood up, stretching. “Well, it’s close to ten o’clock and I’ve been up since 5am. I’m going to head to bed. Do you want me to take him?” she said, offering to take the pup.  
  
            Lori stood and handed him to her. “You have more experience than I in these matters.”  
  
            Kagome nodded and accepted the pup, turning and carrying him into the bedroom.  
  
            “I think I will go too,” Lori said. “We drove a long way today and spent a long time in the car.”  
  
            “Okay,” he replied.  
  
            The Navajo woman bid them goodnight and went through the conjoining door to her side of the suite. Michael went with her, presumably either to retire as well or to talk to her about the trip in the morning.  
  
            “How late do you normally stay up?” Emma asked him when they were alone.  
  
            He took a moment to really look at her because he hadn’t had much of an opportunity to study their new acquaintances. Unlike the Navajos whose skin was sun-wizened by the Arizona desert, Emma’s skin was smooth and clear, although it was still the darker complexion of her race. Her hair was black and she had braided it into two braids on either side of her head. At the top of each braid, where the hair met the skull, she had pinned two small round ornaments made of many tiny, colored beads. She wore a long-sleeved, plain white cotton shirt with the top two buttons undone revealing a bone-bead choker at her throat. Instead of jeans, she had on a long denim skirt with a back-slit up to her knee, and there were soft brown leather boots on her feet. Her face was round with a pointed chin and she sported the high cheekbones of the Natives. Her hands were strong but fine, her fingers long and flexible, and her dark brown eyes were gentle.  
  
            Yukio decided that she wasn’t cover-girl, drop-dead gorgeous, but she wasn’t bad to look at either as he shrugged and answered, “It varies. I don’t need much sleep.”  
  
            “Neither do I. College student.”  
  
            He smiled. “Heh. Say no more.”  
  
            She smiled back and there was something in her eyes that sent a small shiver down his spine. He recognized it as a sensation he hadn’t felt since his courting days before he mated Miaka. There had been a look in his dead wife’s eyes as a fresh, young girl that had made his heart twinge and his spirits lighten. Only Miaka had ever looked at him in quite that way and gotten the response from him that she had. Now this stranger had managed to illicit such a reaction from him on the first night that they met. It hit him suddenly, making him flush with an unexpected wave of heat, then cold.  
  
_‘No. Oh no. I am not interested in a relationship. I’m not. I’m not. I’m not,’_ he insisted, gritting his teeth as his heart pounded a little faster.  
  
            “So, you went to college too?” she questioned, stepping a bit closer to him.  
  
            “Ah. Yeah. Numerous times,” he replied, stepping back and trying to quell his sudden nervousness, even as his mind betrayed him. _‘She is pretty in an Earthy sort of way. No! No and no and no and no and **no!** Remember Miaka. Remember how happy you are at home with your family. You don’t need this in your life right now!’  
  
_             “Oh? What did you study?”  
  
            “Architecture, Finance. Business Management. Stuff like that. What are you studying?” _‘Keep her talking about herself.’_  
  
            “Sociology at Concordia University College of Alberta. I’m in my sophomore year.”  
  
_‘Sophomore. That puts her around 20. Kami-sama, she’s three years older than Miaka was when we got married,’_ he thought, inwardly cringing. “Sociology. That’s a good field of study.”  
  
            “I want to be a lawyer and help my people by becoming an advocate for the tribe.”  
  
            He nodded. “That’s great.” ‘ _I need another beer.’_  
  
            “What do you do?” she asked.  
  
            “I work for my father. We design houses.” _‘All over the world. Maybe we can transfer to the Paris office for a couple of months. Ian can learn French.’_  
  
            “You’re an architect.”  
  
            “Yeah.”  
  
            “That’s really interesting,” she commented, stepping close again. Her scent wafted into his nose and made his head spin.  
  
            _‘Mayday. Mayday._ ’ The pup’s small cry coming from the bedroom was his salvation. “I think I hear my mother calling me. I’d better go see if she needs help. Please excuse me.”  
  
            “Of course. I’m going to go to bed myself. I’ll see you in the morning.”  
  
            She backed off but seemed disappointed. All he felt was relief.  
  
            “Okay. Have a good night,” he said a little too quickly and hurried to the bedroom.  
  
            “Is everything all right?” Kagome asked as he closed the bedroom door and leaned against it. She was walking with the whimpering pup against her shoulder and patting his back.  
  
            “Yeah. The Natives have all gone to bed. I heard the pup. Need any help?”  
  
            “I think I can handle it. It’s just leftover gas from the formula they were feeding him,” she replied. “Are you sure you’re all right?”  
  
            He nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”  
  
            She gave him a Look and a frown. “Yukio, I know you better than that. What’s wrong?”  
  
            “It’s nothing, Kaa-san,” he answered, pushing off the door and going to her.  
  
            “I thought we were done with secrets,” she reminded gently, making him cringe, but he was saved from answering by the pup’s distressed cries of discomfort.  
  
            “Here, let me take him. I can make the calming noise better than you,” he offered.  
  
            She sighed and handed him the pup. “I’ll get you later.”  
  
            He stuck his tongue out at her and turned his back as he bounced the colicky pup and whistled high through his teeth, higher than human ears could hear. Now that he was away from the object of his anxiety, he was calming down and the pup against his chest was a welcome weight. He’d always loved holding pups; their tiny bodies warm in his arms. Every time his parents would adopt a new pup, they had always looked to him as a back-up babysitter and he had leapt at the chance every time they offered.  
  
            In the beginning Miaka had found his paternal instincts endearing, but as the years wore on and their childlessness was marked by all of her sisters’ babies, her viewpoint had changed to one of impatience and frustration. She resented his eagerness to care for the pups but rejected his suggestion that they adopt hanyous as well. He would have loved to raise some pups of their own. He’d often wished that Miaka had been amicable to it. If she had been, he had dreams of all of them together: his parents, his siblings, Miaka, their pups and himself, raising their families side-by-side. For him it would have been heaven, but instead reality was much less ideal. Much like a woman who was always a bridesmaid and never a bride, he was always ‘Aniki’ and never ‘Otou.’  
  
            Reacting to his ministrations, the pup began to settle after about twenty minutes; although it might also have had something to do with the warm pack his mother had placed on the pup’s abdomen.  
  
            “As always, you have the magic touch,” Kagome praised fondly, coming up to rub the pup’s back.  
  
            “And you had nothing to do with it,” he countered jokingly.  
  
            “Of course not. It’s always all your doing.”  
  
            “Heh.”  
  
            “I gave you the bed by the window. I know you like to be close to the outdoors and it’s best for the baby to be kept out of a draft.”  
  
            He nodded, bouncing the pup a little more. “Thanks.” He looked down at the soft grey puppy ears poking up from the hair. “Y’know, he is kinda cute. What do you think we’ll name him? I vote for Loki. Whaddya think, pup? Are you a Loki?”  
  
            His mother smiled and took the pup from him, checking his diaper and removing the warm pack. “I’m not even thinking that far ahead at this point. I’m not going to get my hopes up until after I’ve talked to his mother.”  
  
            He lowered his ears at the gentle reprimand. “Of course. Do you think his mother will want to keep him?”  
  
            She gave him a look that was both disappointed and anguished. “If this was my son, I’d want him.” She rocked the sleepy pup gently. “If this pup were you…”  
  
            “I understand,” he said, sitting down on the bed closest to the window.  
  
            “Now, are you going to tell me what’s going on or will I have to ask your father to pry it out of you?”  
  
            “Otou-san would tell you to respect my privacy,” he countered.  
  
            “I know, but I have ways of persuading him. Wouldn’t it just be easier to tell me now and save yourself the trouble?”  
  
            He sighed heavily and let himself fall back to the mattress, landing with a plop and a groan.  
  
            “Yukio…” Kagome pressed.  
  
            He feigned a snore in answer and was soon hit by a flying pillow. He’d heard it coming though, so it wasn’t a surprise. He took the offending thing and rolled his back to her, squeezing the pillow and murmuring a thanks. A moment later, his mother proved that she hadn’t lost any of her touch.  
  
            “That Emma girl seems very nice.”  
  
            He stiffened and swiveled his ears backward. “What makes you say that?” he asked, trying to keep his voice neutral.  
  
            “No reason. I just noticed that she seemed to like you. She asked me a number of questions about you while she was driving the car for me today.”  
  
            ‘ ** _Shit_**.’ “She did?”  
  
            “Mmm-hmm. I noticed that you seemed to be a little protective of her as well. That little display in the lobby?”  
  
            “That stupid goat insulted them, then you. Was I supposed to just let that go?” he demanded, getting a little defensive.  
  
            “Well, your father wouldn’t have, and you are your father’s son,” she replied with some amusement.  
  
            “See? Exactly my point.”  
  
            “I’m just saying that I think she’s a nice girl. She’s very smart. She’s a college student at Concordia,” his mother commented innocently.  
  
            “I know.”  
  
            “She told you?”  
  
            “Yeah.”  
  
            “Hmmm.”  
  
            He was silent for a while, then said very softly, “I’m just not ready for a relationship, Okaa-san.”  
  
            He heard her approach then sit down on the bed next to him, one hand gently stroking the back of his head.  
  
            “I understand,” was all she said.  
  
            He sighed and curled up a little more, the ache in his heart growing as he remembered Miaka and the end of their marriage. His mother rubbed his back, then kissed his temple.  
  
            “I love you,” she told him.  
  
            “I love you too, Okaa-san,” he replied, relaxing.  
  
            He stayed on the bed listening as his mother performed her evening toilet, one ear on the pup she had left on the other bed, and a few minutes later he heard her get into bed with the pup.  
  
            “I’m going to turn out the light,” she said.  
  
            “Okay. Sleep well, Okaa-san.”  
  
            “You too, sweetheart.”  
  
            “I’ll probably keep watch.”  
  
            “Mmm. I know.”  
  
            The light went out and the room was shrouded in darkness.  
  
            A couple of hours passed and he found that he really couldn’t sleep or even rest. Members of the pack were missing and his youkai side knew it. Like a dog that won’t rest until everyone in the family is home, he kept reaching out his senses for the missing scents. He finally gave up all semblance of trying to get any sleep and left the bedroom after making a quick check on his mother and the pup. Both were sleeping peacefully. Back in the parlor area of the suite, he grabbed a beer from the fridge and opened the French Doors to feel the mountain air. His mother had asked him to close them earlier to keep the cool draft off the pup. Standing in the open doorway, he breathed deep and took in the scents of the night and the forest. Above him, the clear night sky shone with stars and a crescent moon.  
  
_‘Hmm, waning gibbous. It’ll be New Moon soon,’_ he thought, taking a swig from his beer. One of the real plusses of concealment spells was that the monthly change to human for hanyous was significantly downplayed. Now all they had to worry about were those who could see through the illusions.  
  
            He heard her, but because he had his nose in the night air, he didn’t really smell her. The breeze coming in through the open doors swept back any scents that were behind him, and he was grateful for that. Scent was the strongest sense linked to memory, doubly so for the inu-youkai who practically saw through their noses.  
  
            “Is everything alright?” Emma asked him.  
  
            “Yeah,” he said softly. “I’m sorry if I woke you. I’m restless tonight.”  
  
            “I don’t sleep well in a strange place,” she admitted. “I let Michael and Lori have the bedroom, and took the sofa bed.  
  
            “Mmm,” he grunted with a nod of understanding.  
  
            She came to stand next to him in the doorway and he cast a glace down at her. She’d let her hair down from the braids and now it hung loose over her shoulders. The wind blew through it softly.  
  
            “Heh, Wind Baby wants to play tonight,” she said, as the breeze took tendrils of her hair and made them fly around her face. “Ah, the air in the mountains always smells so sweet.”  
  
            Looking at her, he suddenly experienced a flash of memory from his days in the Sengoku Jidai. Miaka, a young girl of fourteen, splashing ankle-deep in the river as she washed her clothes, her hair held back with a multi-colored scarf, and her face shining up at him.  
  
_‘Yukio-sama. Did you come to fish in the river today?’  
  
_             He winced as the pain seared through his heart and he took a small step forward to put his nose in the wind. Unfortunately, Emma stepped up too.  
  
            “I’ve hiked this valley since I was a little girl, and I’ve seen this hotel hundreds of times, but I must admit, I never dreamed I’d ever be a guest here.”  
  
            “We don’t stay here because it’s nice,” he told her, wrapping himself in the wind, letting its coldness surround him with layer upon layer of invisible fabric, cutting her scent off from his nose and steeling his heart from the pain of his past. “My uncle owns the parent company that owns this chain of hotels. The staff are well used to our… unique needs. In fact, the room we are in is never rented to a human client.  
  
            “A long time ago youkai figured out that money bought safety in the human world. As humans increased in population and became the governing race, youkai who wanted to survive needed to join them. It wasn’t enough to stake out a mountaintop and kill anyone who ventured up there. No, resources had to be gathered: land, investments, identities. To do that in this age requires money, lots of it. Our lives are ruled by secrecy, illusion and duality, but it is how we endure.”  
  
            “You make it sound like something out of Mission Impossible. Secret lives, codes and disguises.”  
  
            He turned his head to face her, confident in his defenses’ ability to protect him. He knew what she saw when she looked at him: a barefoot Asian male in his early twenties with long, straight black hair and black eyes dressed in low-rider jeans and a sleeveless, white muscle shirt. His concealment spell was attractive to most human females and most hanyou or youkai females found his genuine appearance pleasing to the eye as well. The appreciative light in Emma’s eyes as she looked him over told him that she was no exception. He stood up a little straighter, not displaying but drawing himself up as a dominant male assessing a potential female and finding her wanting. Not that there was anything wrong with her per se; it was just that he was resolved to leave his life uncomplicated and peaceful, and that plan didn’t include a new mate. He knew that there was a good chance that, someday, he’d be interested in the companionship of a female, but that time wasn’t now.  
  
            “It is. We live two lives: one in the shadow and one in the light,” he replied.  
  
            “Like the First Peoples,” she mused thoughtfully.  
  
            “Huh?”  
  
            “Our lives are full of duality too. There is our tribal life and our lives in the White Man’s world. The two don’t always mix well. Our traditions and beliefs are often in conflict with the ‘accepted’ viewpoints. Even the way we view and mark the passing of time is fundamentally different from the Europeans. Until recently we lived a life of conflict with the world, with each other, and with ourselves.”  
  
            “Until recently?” he asked, his own curiosity getting the better of him.  
  
            She smiled softly. “It became okay to be Indian. With the increased popularity of Native spirituality and culture, our ways gained more attention. The First Peoples were able to rally support for their native traditions in ways they had never been able to before. More and more of our young people stopped shunning our ways and beliefs, and returned to their heritage. We still live double lives but now when we say that we are Cree or Ojibwa or Nunavut or any other native tribe, we are treated with more tolerance and the pressure for us to conform to the White World is no longer quite so strong. There’s still a lot of prejudice and conflict, and we still have a great deal further to go, but it’s a little better. We are a proud, resilient people, and we are patient. That is how we endure.”  
  
            She gave him a hooded look and added, “Perhaps our lives aren’t so different.”  
  
            He looked away, reaching out to the wind to keep him calm. Her voice was lulling and his heart took notice, but his mind rebelled and began to kick and scream in protest.  
  
            “Maybe. But I doubt it. Your life doesn’t depend on humanity never finding out what you really are. Although, I think humanity would shudder to know how many of us there are walking and living among them. As I said, most of us have money and money buys all kinds of power. Few of us are politicians, but many of us hold high ranking positions in most of the Fortune 500 companies.”  
  
            “Like your uncle,” she mused.  
  
            “My uncle owns almost everything and I expect him to keep building his empire until he **_does_** own everything. I’ve never seen anyone more ruthless in acquisitions. Well… except for my brother Ryoukan, but his is a different sort of ruthless. Ryou doesn’t care who he tramples, and, oddly, Uncle does. But I blame that on my Aunt. She’s his heart.”  
  
            “Like your mother is for your father.”  
  
            He shook his head. “My father has a big heart all on his own. She just reminds him that he has it.”  
  
            “And you? Do you have someone who reminds you of your heart?”  
  
            _‘Ah and there it is.’_ He frowned, Miaka’s face appearing before him, at once young and in love with him, then contorting to the bitter, angry woman she had become.  
  
            “I did have a mate once,” he admitted.  
  
            Predictably her face fell then filled with sympathy. “I’m sorry. What happened to her?”  
  
            “She chose to die rather than stay with me. Excuse me, I need to go. I think I hear the pup fussing and I don’t want him waking my mother. I hope you can get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight.”  
  
            He didn’t give her a chance to answer him as he brushed past her and reentered the bedroom. He hadn’t been completely lying. He had heard the pup begin to fuss, but his mother had immediately responded and was already getting up by the time he entered the room. Wordlessly, he went into the en-suite bathroom and turned on the tap for hot water, then he brought a cup of it into the bedroom and mixed the formula in the bottle while Kagome changed the pup’s diaper.  
  
            “Yukio?” she asked him as the pup started eating. She must have seen his pained face and tense body language.  
  
            “I can’t talk about it right now, Okaa.”  
  
            She nodded and wisely dropped the subject.  
  
            “Can I hold him?” he requested softly.  
  
            She gave him the pup without a word and he held the tiny body close, lifting the bottle so the pup would consume less air when he fed. His pup-scent came to his nose, and Yukio could feel the fast tempo of the little heart pattering against his chest. It felt good to cradle the little one. The pup was the epitome of the future with all its unspoken promise whereas his memories were full of disappointment and broken dreams.  
  
            He sat facing the large window, staring out at the inky blackness of the pre-dawn night, and held the pup long after he had finished his bottle and been burped. There was no gas this time so the last of the formula the Natives had given him must have passed out of his system. His mother turned out the light and got back into bed, but did not ask him to surrender his now sleeping bundle. She probably knew that the pup was the only thing keeping him from breaking down, one thin tendril of control he held onto as he counted the beats of the pup’s heart and felt the soft breath caress his skin.  
  
            There in the darkness, the only source of light being the starlight and the ambient light from the hotel, Yukio sat in silence, cradling the newborn hanyou in lax arms, and tried to ignore the wetness that rolled down his cheeks.  
  



	4. Chapter Three

Chapter Three  
  
            Yukio stayed awake all night, staring out at the mountains and waiting for dawn to come. He fed and changed the pup once more during the wee hours of the morning, and was proud that he did it without waking his mother. Now that he was being properly fed, the pup was a very easy keeper and seemed to have a pleasant disposition, but being that he was only eleven days old, it was hard to tell what his temperament would really be like. Still, he didn’t seem to be the cranky sort, and he was alert and responsive when he was awake. Some of his siblings had driven his mother crazy when they were little pups. Hiro especially came to mind. The infant fire-hanyou had been irritable and colicky for months, and he had cried for hours on end. Nothing Kagome did seemed to help either and his poor mother was often ragged from lack of sleep. He’d often wondered if Hiro’s difficult infancy was an eerie premonition of his future fate.  
  
            Focusing on the pup helped him get through the night without going into a complete meltdown. He hadn’t felt the weight of Miaka’s death so heavily on his shoulders in almost thirty years, and it did not sit well with him. He’d spent decades compartmentalizing the last forty years of his marriage, trying to avoid the memories he had locked away.  
  
            Long ago he had come to the realization that his marriage hadn’t been like the blissful union his parents shared for quite some time. In fact, when he was brutally honest with himself, he could admit that the ‘blissful union’ part had really only lasted about thirty or forty years, and had really started to go downhill once members of Miaka’s family had started to die while she remained youthful because of the infusions of his blood. Rather than turn to him in her grief as the one constant in her life, and leaning on their love to sustain her, as his mother did when her friends died, Miaka had pulled away from him. The steady distance between them grew until the final betrayal in 1935 when he had dragged her out of Japan by force. She allowed him to give her his blood only once more between 1935 and 1945 when the Bomb dropped on Hiroshima. After that, she had refused every time he offered, and died seventeen years later.  
  
            They’d been married 234 years, but of those years, he could only call about half of them happy. He’d been happy for nearly all of them, barring the last seventeen, but Miaka… Miaka probably hadn’t been happy much since 1783 when her last sister died. She’d tried, but he had felt her growing sadness. He’d tried to give her everything she could ever want, but he couldn’t give her children or bring back her loved ones from the dead or stop the world from changing while they stayed the same. He had hoped that having Kagome to talk to would help Miaka weather the decades, but mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had never been very close. Miaka was almost afraid of Kagome in some ways. His mother had risen to an almost mythological ideal in the eyes of the villagers, and some people even believed her to be a tennyo and not a normal human. His mother hated the awestruck reverence and did her best to dispel the rumors, even going so far as to share in manual labor in the rice fields and treat the Eta families living on the outskirts of the village, but that had only served to make the villagers hold her in even higher esteem.  
  
            Miaka had often compared herself to Kagome and Yukio knew she felt that she would never measure up. Kagome had tried to tell her that all she had to do to be worthy in her mother-in-law’s eyes was love her son and do right by him, but Miaka always seemed to feel that Kagome was criticizing her or judging her against a standard no normal human could ever hope to aspire to. After the debacle of 1935 when he had forced her out of Japan on one of his family’s deep sea fishing boats, the relationship between the two women had significantly soured.  
  
            _‘I should have known what would happen. I’d had enough warning. I just… kept hoping that I’d be enough for her, that our love would be enough to sustain us through the Hell of the War. But deep down inside I knew that it wouldn’t. I guess… I guess I always knew. Miaka did love me. I know she did. She just… she didn’t have what it took to live for centuries.’  
  
_             He watched dawn rise over the mountains and flood the Bow Valley with sunlight. The endless forest of the mountains was a beautiful sight to him and he loved his home with a fervent passion. Japan had cut down most of its forests to make way for cities and housing for the burgeoning population, but here in Canada the seas of green remained in all their glory.  
  
            _‘I am the Lorax and I speak for the trees,’_ he mused, remembering one of his favorite books by the famed author Dr. Seuss. _‘Someone has to since humans have stopped listening to them.’  
  
_             He knew, of course, that trees talked if you knew how to listen. Goshinboku talked all the time. Trees, like all living things, were sentient beings and they had their opinions on things if anybody bothered to ask. They were surprisingly self-sacrificing too. They didn’t really mind selective harvesting because it made the forest stronger, but they especially didn’t like clear-cutting because it destroyed the forest and made the soil blow away in the wind.  
  
            His father was known for building houses out of standing deadfall. It was easy enough to find it because so many road construction projects resulted in drainage flooding that killed acres of trees alongside highways. It was relatively simple to harvest these trees after they had cured for a couple of years and recycle them into usable lumber. In doing so, they avoided killing trees needlessly and preserved what little forest the planet had left.  
  
            To his family, such a thing was common sense. Trees made oxygen and cleaned up carbon dioxide. They provided food, shelter and protection for animals, plants and soil. He also had a sneaking suspicion that trees made rain clouds but he wisely kept that to himself in today’s ‘scientific age.’  
  
_‘Scientific? If breaking everything down into tiny pieces so all you see is one thing instead of the whole picture is being ‘scientific,’ I’ll keep on being a backwater bumpkin thank you very much.’  
  
_             He was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of his father’s footsteps in the hall. Looking at the clock in the room, he smiled. It was just past 8am.  
  
_‘10am my ass. He dropped Ian off at school and came right here.’  
  
_             A passkey being slipped into the lock told him that the front desk hadn’t given Inuyasha any trouble about getting up to the room, and he stood, still holding the sleeping pup, and went to meet his father at the bedroom door. Inuyasha frowned immediately and it was obvious that his emotional turmoil was showing on his face.  
  
            _‘I can’t tell him what’s happening to me. It’s not that he won’t understand, it’s that he **will** and he’ll know exactly how I’m feeling. It’ll just bring back bad memories for him, and there’s really nothing he can do about it so there’s no point in burdening him with it.’  
  
_             “Oi. What’s going on?” his father demanded, then switched to Japanese. “What happened here last night? How is your mother? Is something wrong with the pup?”  
  
            He dropped his eyes and wouldn’t look him in the eye. “Okaa-san is fine. The pup is fine. Nothing happened last night.”  
  
            “Bullshit. They might be fine, but you’re not. Are you going to tell me or do I have to drag it out of you?”  
  
            “I…”  
  
            “Inuyasha,” his mother’s voice interrupted and he cast a glance at the bed to see her rising.  
  
_‘She must have been just dozing and heard Otou-san come in.’  
  
_             His parents shared a meaningful look, then his father gazed at him shrewdly as if weighing his options.  
  
            “Keh. You’ll tell me when you’re ready.”  
  
            “It’s nothing, Otou-san, I promise.” _‘Nothing you can fix anyway. You may be able to do a lot of things Otou, but healing broken hearts isn’t one of them.’  
  
_             His father snorted but didn’t comment. Instead he looked at the pup.  
  
            “How was he last night?”  
  
            “A little colicky in the beginning, but he’s fine now. He’s very thin so Okaa-san upped his feedings.”  
  
            Inuyasha nodded then turned to Kagome. “Tetsu’s plane lands at 2. He’s going to pick Ian up from school and bring him home.”  
  
            “I’m glad,” his mother answered, standing up. “I’m going to shower.”  
  
            “Okay. When are the other two due back?”  
  
            “By 10am,” he replied.  
  
            “Okay. I have the Jeep packed and ready to go.”  
  
            “The Jeep? Isn’t that a little small?” he questioned.  
  
            “I’ve got the Grand Cherokee.”  
  
            “Ah, okay.”  
  
            “Simon and Frances are coming later today to pick up your bike and Kagome’s car.”  
  
            “Simon? I brought the Ninja,” he answered. Simon was the gardener, and a small earth-hanyou, too small to handle a racing bike.  
  
            “I know,” his father sighed irritably. “That’s why Frances is going to drive the bike and Simon is going to drive the Saturn.”  
  
            He sputtered. “Frances?! Frances is going to ride my Ninja!?” he squeaked, on the verge of panic. Frances was one of the housekeepers they employed to keep their home in working order. She was a great organizer but she didn’t know the first thing about motorcycles.  
  
            “She’ll do fine. She only has to drive it 25km.”  
  
            “But… but…”  
  
            “She said she’s been itching to try a bike. I think she’ll have fun.”  
  
            “But… but…” _‘Not my Ninja!’  
  
_             He was still in a state of shock when his father cracked a wicked grin and he knew he’d been had.  
  
            “Gotchya. Tetsu’s picking up the bike after he gets in. I just told you Frances was going to do it to irritate you.”  
  
            He growled which only made Inuyasha grin wider. “You looked like you needed it.”  
  
            “Keh,” he snorted. _‘Truth is, I did. Thanks Otou.’  
  
_             “That’s my line.”  
  
            “Mr. Fushikenwa,” Emma’s voice interrupted, and his heart sank into his stomach.  
  
            _‘There she is. How am I going to handle this? My heart is telling me one thing but my head is telling me another. I could give her the cold shoulder but it’s not her fault. She didn’t mean to hurt me. It’s just my screwed-up head. I shouldn’t punish her for something that’s my fault. I’m not like my father. I don’t lash out at people just because I’m afraid they’ll hurt me. My parents made sure I never had to use that tactic to protect myself.’  
  
_             His father noticed his discomfort because he gave him a questioning look before turning to face the Cree woman.  
  
            “Yeah,” Inuyasha answered.  
  
            “Good morning. Is it 10am already?” she asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Yukio noted that she looked tired.  
  
            “No, it’s only 8. I’m early.”  
  
            “Oh. I’m glad. I thought I had overslept.”  
  
            “Are the others up?”  
  
            “I’m not sure. The bedroom door is still closed.”  
  
            His father nodded. “We’ll all go to breakfast once the other two get here, then we’ll get on the road. I want to reach Helena by nightfall.”  
  
            “Helena?” he repeated, looking at Inuyasha.   
  
            “It’s about 7 hours away. I’ve made reservations at the Holiday Inn. Tomorrow we’ll make Park City.”  
  
            He nodded. It looked like his father wasn’t planning on drives longer than 9 hours in a day which was fine by him. Long days cramped into a car were never comfortable for any of them.  
  
            He saw Inuyasha flick an ear towards the bathroom and turned his hearing in that direction in time to hear the water turn off.  
  
            “Your mother’s done in the shower.”  
  
            “I’ll feed the pup then take one myself,” he said, indicating the now rousing bundle in his arms. He knew he had about three minutes before the pup started bawling.  
  
            His father grunted in assent. “I’ll bring you a bottle.”  
  
            It was a clear directive for him to leave the bedroom, but he was reluctant. To do so would mean being alone with Emma and the thought made butterflies flutter in his stomach. Not obeying the silent command, however, would give credence to his father’s earlier concerns that there was something wrong. Unhappily, he stepped out of the bedroom while his father stepped in and closed the door behind him.  
  
            He and Emma stared at each other for long moments, then Emma looked away.  
  
            “If something I said last night hurt you, I’m truly sorry,” she whispered softly.  
  
            He lowered his ears even though he knew she couldn’t see them and sighed. “It’s… it’s okay. I know that you didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”  
  
            “No, I really didn’t.”  
  
            “It’s just… I’m just… I’m still sensitive about it. It’s not your fault.” _‘And I don’t want to hurt you either, but…’  
  
_             “I’m still sorry. I’ll try to be more careful in the future.”  
  
            Her hurt expression called to him and he hurried to comfort her before he even had a chance to think about it.  
  
            “It’s okay. You don’t have to.”  
  
            She looked up at him with hope in her eyes and his heart did a flip-flop in his chest. “But I want to. I don’t want you to be hurt because of something I did.”  
  
            _‘Yukio, you are a pathetic sap and it’s going to bring you nothing but pain. It does me no good to be too nice to her. I’ll give her the wrong impression. Still, there’s nothing wrong with being friendly, is there?’_ “I know. I don’t hold anything against you. I promise.”  
  
            She smiled. “I’m glad. When you left so abruptly, I was worried.”  
  
            He looked down at the squirming pup. “Well, he was fussing and he needed care. I wanted to get to him before he started crying.”  
  
            “I never heard him make a sound so I guess you got to him in time.”  
  
            “Yeah.”  
  
            The bedroom door opened and Inuyasha shoved a bottle of han-i-lac at him. “Here.”  
  
            He took the bottle and his father shut the door again without another word. Emma looked at the closed door with amusement.  
  
            “Is he always like that?”  
  
            Yukio shrugged and brought the nipple up to the pup’s mouth. “Pretty much,” he answered as the pup started feeding.  
  
            Emma snickered. “He reminds me of Grandfather. All rough around the edges but soft inside.”  
  
            “Shhh, don’t say that too loud. He’ll be irritable all day if he hears you.”  
  
            She gave him another soft smile. “I’m glad you aren’t mad at me.”  
  
            He shook his head. “I wasn’t angry.” _‘Just bleeding from the wounds that got ripped open by your very presence.’  
  
_             “That’s good.” She looked away for a moment, then cast a furtive glance up at him again, her eyes hooded.  
  
            He knew that look very well. He also knew that it meant trouble. _‘She’s got her sights set on you, Yukio. And there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s like she knew who you were before she ever met you.’  
  
_             “So, we’re headed to Helena today?”  
  
            He swallowed the lump in his throat. What **_was_** it about this woman? It was one thing for a woman to be interested in him. It was another thing entirely for her interest to affect him. “Uhh, yeah. It’s in Montana. There’s a Holiday Inn there.”  
  
            “A Holiday Inn? Why is that important? No, don’t tell me, your uncle owns Holiday Inn.”  
  
            “Okay, I won’t tell you.” _‘When in doubt, go for humor.’  
  
_             She laughed. “I meant that as a joke.”  
  
            He feigned innocence. “You did?”  
  
            “Yes. So your uncle owns Holiday Inn.”  
  
            “Actually, he and my father co-own it. Uncle only owns half of the Intercontinental hotel chain. We own the other half.”  
  
            “Oh. So you own hotels too?”  
  
            “We own lots of businesses. We like the hotel business though. It gives us lots of places to stay for free.”  
  
            “I can imagine. Did you experience a lot of profit loss after September 11th?”  
  
            “Not really. I think airlines were the hardest hit.”  
  
            “Do you own any of those?”  
  
            “No. We’ve got a couple of jets though. Uncle owns at least two airlines, however.” _‘And both have top-notch safety records. I’d love to see some whacko try to get a bomb on one of Uncle’s planes. Jerk would be in for a rude awakening. He’s got the highest percentage of hanyou and youkai employees of any airline owner and a good third of them can read minds.’  
  
_             “Is there anything your uncle doesn’t own?”  
  
            “Actually, yes. He doesn’t own anything in the Middle East or any Islamic country.”  
  
            He saw her frown. “He’s prejudiced against Muslims?” she asked carefully.  
  
            _‘Oooh, she doesn’t like the thought of that.’_ “Umm, more like the other way around.”  
  
            “Huh?”  
  
            “In many sects of the Islamic faith dogs are unclean. To own a dog or even touch one, is to damn the soul,” he explained.  
  
            Realization filled her eyes and her cheeks flushed. “Oh. I see and you are half dogs…”  
  
            “My uncle is a full-blooded inu-youkai. He and my father are half-brothers. But you see my point. We are dogs. And my uncle…”  
  
            “Has difficulty doing business with people who think he’s unclean,” she finished for him.  
  
            He nodded. “Especially when he believes himself to be superior to you puny, weak humans.” ‘ _When in doubt, go for redirection…’_  
  
            She let out a choked laugh. “Puny, weak humans. He’s not arrogant at all, is he.”  
  
            “You have no idea. And he married a human too.”  
  
            “Oh, her life must be just wonderful.”  
  
            “Actually it is. He treats her like gold even when he treats everyone else like shit. He has three pups with her as well. All hanyous like me. Plus two full-blooded sons from an arranged marriage.”  
  
            “Arranged marriage?”  
  
            _‘Oops.’_ “Ummm, yeah. That was a long time ago and it was dissolved after the pups were born. Long story.”  
  
            “Ah.”  
  
            The pup was finished eating so he set the empty bottle down on the end table next to the sofa and put the pup up to his shoulder to burp him. Emma watched him do this and he saw her shake her head.  
  
            “What?”  
  
            “You’re so paternal.”  
  
            “Feh. I’ve had lots of practice.”  
  
            “You have a lot of brothers and sisters?”  
  
            “A few.” _‘Try 27.’_  
  
            “Your mother must like having babies.”  
  
            “All of us except Ian are adopted.”  
  
            “Oh.”  
  
            Just then Lori appeared in the room, coming through the open door. Her presence made him relax somewhat because he was no longer alone with the object of his confusion.  
  
            “Good morning,” the Navajo woman greeted.  
  
            “Good morning. Did you sleep well?” he asked.  
  
            “I am well rested, yes.”  
  
            “Good. My father is here and said we’ll go down to breakfast once David and Billy get back. Then we’ll head out. He wants to reach Helena, Montana by tonight.”  
  
            “Only Helena? We could go farther than that in a day. We drove up from Pocatello on our second day of travel.”  
  
            “How long did that take you?”  
  
            “About twelve hours.”  
  
            The door to the bedroom opened and his father came out. “That’s too long to be in the car,” he said, proving that he could hear perfectly through the closed door.  
  
            Kagome followed him, her hair still wet from the shower. “Bathroom is open, sweetheart,” she said, offering to take the pup.  
  
            He handed the pup over. “He needs changed.”  
  
            “Okay.”  
  
            “I’ve already mapped our route. We will drive to Helena today and Park City, Utah tomorrow. On Saturday we’ll head to Kayenta, Arizona. Once we’re there, we’ll stay overnight and then leave for your village in the morning,” Inuyasha stated with authority.  
  
            “Why take three days when we can cross the distance in two?” Michael asked, joining them in the suite.  
  
            “Because you don’t know what he’s like after spending 12 hours stuck in a car,” he heard his mother answer as he headed to take his shower.  
  
            “Me?! **_You’re_** the one who keeps telling me it makes your butt hurt when you sit still for that long!”  
  
            “ ** _Inuyasha!_** ”  
  
            Yukio giggled and shook his head, going into the bedroom and closing the door behind him. If his father had still sported the subduing spell on his prayer beads, he had no doubt that his mother would have ‘sat’ him until he ended up in the lobby. _‘Otou-san you are soooooo lucky._ ’  
  
            The water felt good sluicing over his shoulders. Unlike his father, he shared his mother’s love of hot baths and showers. The hotter the better. Temperatures that would send his father howling barely registered on his heat-o-meter, and he was famous for using all the hot water. He scrubbed his hair and body, then jacked up the heat and stood under the spray for a good ten minutes, letting the hot water relax his tense muscles and soothe his addled mind. Popping his head out to make sure the bedroom door was still closed, he wrapped a towel around his waist and left the bathroom in a billow of steam. He wasn’t so much concerned about people seeing him half-naked as he was getting caught without his concealment ring. The humans might seem okay, but he wasn’t ready to reveal his true form to them.  
  
            Still clad in only the towel, he stood in front of the window and looked out at the valley while he combed his fingers through his long hair. Then he rummaged in his pack and dug out a clean set of underwear and a T-shirt. He’d wear the same pair of jeans; they were still clean. He found his ‘I base my fashion sense on what doesn’t **_itch_** ’ shirt and pulled it over his head before putting on the underwear and jeans.  
  
            “Oi! Bathing beauty are you done yet?!” his father bellowed, banging on the bedroom door.  
  
            Slipping on his signet ring he threw open the door and sauntered out. Everyone was standing in the parlor of the suite, including David and Billy who must have arrived while he was in the shower.  
  
            “What?”  
  
            “Everyone is here and we’re waiting on you,” Inuyasha complained.  
  
            “Your father hasn’t eaten breakfast yet,” Kagome explained.  
  
            “Well, lemme get my bag packed and we can go down to the dining room. Did we settle on the route?”  
  
            “Keh, we’re going the way I planned,” his father answered without hesitation.  
  
            It was obvious from their faces that the Navajos weren’t overjoyed with the plan, but whatever had occurred while he was showering must have convinced them to go along with it. He only hoped that his father wasn’t too belligerent in pressing his point. He knew money was a definite issue and that gave him an idea.  
  
            “Or better yet, let’s pack up, check out and go to Phil’s Pancake House. Whaddya think?” _‘Please say yes. This hotel would charge ten times as much for the same breakfast and the prices on the menu would probably be enough to make them dizzy.’  
  
_             His mother, observant and quick-witted as always, picked up on his idea right away. “That sounds like a fantastic idea, sweetheart.”  
  
            His father blinked at him, then at his mother, then shrugged. “Keh! That’s fine with me. Everyone else is already packed. You’ve got ten minutes. Get your stuff together and let’s go.”  
  
            “I’m on it. I hear Phil’s chocolate chip and strawberry pancakes calling me!” he enthused as he headed back into the bedroom to get his bag.  
  
            Twenty minutes later they were checked-out of the hotel and on their way to breakfast with the Natives following in their minivan. Phil’s was a bit of a landmark in Banff and had slightly elevated prices because of its location, but as far as restaurants in Banff went, it was still considered inexpensive. Emma sidled up to him in the parking lot and gave him a sly look.  
  
            “I know what you’re doing,” she said softly.  
  
            “Who me?” he replied, all wide-eyed innocence. _‘When in doubt, play dumb.’_  
  
            She gave him a sweet smile. “Thank you.”  
  
            He looked ahead of him at the Navajos who were entering the restaurant with some reluctance. “I just don’t want them to feel as if we are giving them hand-outs. We aren’t, but at the same time we need to eat. Especially you puny humans.”  
  
            Now it was her turn to give him a wide-eyed look. “You who ate three times as much pizza as any of us last night say that to me?”  
  
            He smirked, but didn’t answer.  
  
            “But still, I appreciate your efforts to make them feel more comfortable,” she went on quietly. “My people are faring slightly better since the casino opened on our reserve. The money brought in by the gambling has built better housing, provided jobs and funded all kinds of social programs. The apartment building I live in was built with funds from the casino. Our tribe is prospering even as we struggle to hold on to our traditions.  
  
            “The Navajo Nation however… it still struggles with basic survival. From what David tells me, many of them don’t have heat or running water in their homes. But they are a proud and deeply spiritual people, and they don’t feel comfortable with charity. I can’t explain the desperation it took for them to bring the child here, the agony and heart-wrenching decisions they had to make, or the sacrifices. Coyote is not a fortuitous trickster for the Navajo as he is for some tribes, and he is not looked upon with kindness by them. There are many in the village, Michael’s father included, who believe Coyote has cursed them and will bring terrible misfortune. Michael had to defy a number of his people, and they aren’t happy with him or Lori and Billy who sided with him. Doing this is extremely difficult for them and they are very unsettled by this whole situation. I thank you for your efforts to make them feel better about this.”  
  
            He nodded, swallowing hard. _‘I should tell Otou-san to let them win one just to make them feel more at ease. I know he can be such a bull in a china shop sometimes, but he doesn’t like to walk all over people either.’_ “You’ll tell them that we’re not paying anything for the hotel rooms? That should make them feel a little better.”  
  
            “I already have. It made some difference, but your father’s… insistence that things be done his way…”  
  
            “My father is pack leader. He is the alpha male,” he explained. “The safety and well-being of the pack are his responsibility. That is why he comes off as being stubborn and uncompromising. He has led us for more years than you can possibly imagine and his choices have kept us alive. He does what he thinks is best for all of us and he has his reasons, just as you have yours and they have theirs. If they had presented a reasonable case for changing the route we took down to Arizona, he would have listened to it because he isn’t as rigid as you think he is. But I agree with him on this one. Twelve to fourteen hours in the car in a day is too much, especially for the pup. Don’t forget that his mind is foremost on that pup because he is helpless and has no voice. I understand their urgency, but not at the expense of the pup’s safety and health. You have no idea what you are dealing with when you have a hanyou pup. He needs to be protected in ways you wouldn’t even consider. Believe me, if my mother and I disagree with his choices, we call him on it and we can usually make him listen to us. But you have to trust him on this one because he knows what he’s doing.”  
  
            She regarded him seriously then nodded. “I’ll tell them. I’ll try to make them understand that he isn’t trying to be bossy.”  
  
            He smiled. “Oh, he’s being bossy, but that’s just because he knows he’s the boss.”  
  
            “Oi! Are you coming in here or are you just going to stare at each other in the parking lot?!” Inuyasha yelled from the restaurant door.  
  
            “My father bellows,” he said with a shrug.  
  
            “I heard.”  
  
            “We should go. I’m hungry.”  
  
            “I can’t imagine why. You only ate six slices of pizza last night.”  
  
            “Seven,” he corrected. “And an order of breadsticks.”  
  
            Emma just rolled her eyes and followed him into the restaurant.  
  
            After breakfast, he managed to get his father alone in the men’s room for a minute and explain to him that his in-your-face attitude was not going over well. Inuyasha brushed it off in his usual way but he was fairly confident that he’d gotten his point across. He noted that his father spoke a little more patiently, and explained things a little more clearly when he detailed the plan again just before they got into their vehicles and started off. Inuyasha gave the Natives one of the roving walkie-talkies with a 3km range so they could stay in contact with each other on the road and relay messages.  
  
            They drove for about 4 hours and stopped for lunch at a rest stop along Highway 15, then they were back on the road for the final push to Helena. Lori rode with them in the Grand Cherokee because they had more room, and she wanted to help keep an eye on the pup, so he rode shotgun while his mother and the Navajo woman sat in the back with the pup in Ian’s car seat. The pup was surprisingly quiet the whole trip and half the time he almost forgot the little guy was there.  
  
            The Holiday Inn in Helena, MT was actually a Holiday Inn Express with no pool but that wasn’t such a bad thing. It just meant no whirlpool for his mother to sit in. His father promised her a hotel with a spa for the next night and made a reservation at the Grand Summit in Park City. It caused a small bone of contention between them and the Natives because Park City did have a Holiday Inn that advertised an indoor pool and spa. Kagome had suggested that the party split up for the night since the Navajos didn’t want to spend the night in a place so expensive, but Inuyasha nixed the idea and repeated that both hotels were free anyway because Uncle owned the Grand Summit too and they should just shut up because they weren’t going to separate. So there.  
  
            When it looked like there was going to be a snit about it, he pulled Emma aside and spoke with her. The Cree woman might send his heart into somersaults every time she was near him, but she knew the Navajos better than he did, and she was able to diffuse a potentially ugly situation. He explained how it was important for the pack to stay together as a whole rather than split up. He also explained that the Grand Summit was in The Canyons ski resort while the Holiday Inn was in downtown Park City, several kilometers away. Downtown would be more crowded and busy while the ski resort would be experiencing a lull in activity because the official ski season hadn’t started yet. As a hanyou, loud noise and strong smells would bother the pup, so the less populated hotel was the better choice. Besides, Park City, with its lax morality laws, was known as Utah’s party town, where even good little Mormons went to let their hair down. If Lori was concerned about Michael and Billy drinking, then the Grand Summit was it because it didn’t have as many watering holes as Downtown.  
  
            In the end, Emma was able to convince the others that Inuyasha’s plan was best for a number of reasons, and the argument was settled. They checked into their three adjoining rooms, simple doubles with nothing special to commend them except two clean beds and a working bathroom, and headed out to dinner. As a gesture of peace, his father let the Natives choose where they would eat and the Navajos settled on a local restaurant that advertised good food for low prices. It turned out to be a small Italian pizzeria that served the best stromboli he’d ever had. It was so good, he ordered a second to take out for a late night snack.  
  
            “I have never seen anyone eat as much as you or your father do,” Emma commented as he consumed another garlic roll.  
  
            The food euphoria was making him feel pleasantly full and he spared her a genuine smile. “We can also go days without it. We don’t **_have_** to eat every day. We **_like_** to eat every day. If food is available, we’ll eat it, but if it’s not, it takes a lot for us to starve,” he replied, licking the flavorful oily garlic grease from his fingers.  
  
            “I imagine your physiology is a lot like a wolf’s: able to adapt to seasonal feasts and famines,” David theorized.  
  
            Inuyasha growled low and ripped a garlic roll in two. “Do **_not_** mention wolves to me,” he grumbled, eating the bread with angry bites.  
  
            Eyebrows went up, then Lori smiled softly. “There are Wolf demons then. Like Dog and Coyote.”  
  
            “Yes, quite a few of them. They’re one of the more prolific youkai races,” his mother answered, holding the pup and feeding him his bottle. The pup sucked noisily, completely oblivious to the adults around him.  
  
            “One too many,” his father complained sullenly.  
  
            Yukio snickered. “One of Okaa-san’s potential suitors was a wolf-youkai,” he explained.  
  
            “Keh! That wimpy bastard never had a chance with her!” his father insisted.  
  
            “Oh **_now_** you say that. Before you went all dominant dog on me every time Kouga-kun came around,” Kagome sniffed.  
  
            “Keh! I notice that you still call him Kouga- ** _kun_** ,” Inuyasha snapped back jealously.  
  
            “Kouga is my friend. He’s yours too or have you forgotten that he took Ryoukan for us? He never had my heart, so I wish you would just stop getting jealous.” She wiggled her left hand in his face, flashing her wedding ring and diamond. “Is it his ring I’m wearing?”  
  
            As always when his father looked at the wedding ring on his mother’s hand, his eyes fell to the one on his own hand and he softened.  
  
            “No,” Inuyasha replied with a gentle smile.  
  
            “Then it’s settled then, isn’t it.”  
  
            “Yeah.”  
  
            “Good.”  
  
            Yukio looked down at his own naked ring finger and his happy mood drained out of him. His mother, noticing his sudden silence, frowned at him and put her hand over his in comfort.  
  
            :Pup loved,: she barked softly. :Mother-female loves pup.:  
  
            He gave her a sad smile. :Pup loves Mother-female.:  
  
            “What was that?’ Emma asked curiously.  
  
            “Feh, we speak our own language,” Inuyasha replied tersely.  
  
            “All inu-youkai are born knowing the dog language,” Kagome told them. “And all canine language is similar. This little coyote-hanyou understands us when we speak to him in inu-youkai even if he isn’t able to answer yet.”  
  
            “So the barks have meaning,” Michael commented.  
  
            “Of course they have meaning. What? You think we just bark and howl at the moon for no reason?” his father snorted.  
  
            He knew his father hadn’t meant to crack a joke. Quite the opposite, Inuyasha had been expressing irritation, but as usual his choice of words was more amusing than anything else. Yukio found himself half-choking on his beer and desperately tried not to spew it all over the table. His efforts only made the situation funnier, as did his father’s annoyed glares and soon they were laughing. The laughter felt good, sparkling through his veins like good quality sake or an expensive scotch, and the clouds that had fallen on him burned away.  
  
            His father paid the bill and they headed back to the Holiday Inn. Anticipating that his parents would want some time alone after spending the previous night apart, he took the keys to the Jeep and chatted up the front desk clerk to find out if there were any good places to kill a few hours nearby. He hit the jackpot when the little co-ed told him the Indy coffee shop two miles away offered live entertainment on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. He supposed it helped that the girl was dating the guitarist who was performing, and the fact that the place was non-smoking was a real plus. He hated cigarette smoke, it always made his eyes water and his nose itch.  
  
            “Is everything okay?” Emma’s voice asked behind him.  
  
            Jumping a little because he hadn’t known she was there, he turned around to face the Cree woman.  
  
            “Umm yeah. I was just looking for something to do for a couple of hours.”  
  
            She gave him a quizzical look.  
  
            “My parents spent last night apart. They wanted some time alone to… reconnect.”  
  
            Her eyes widened as she caught the meaning of his words. “Oh…”  
  
            He rolled his eyes. “It’s not what you think. At least I don’t think so. Let’s just say I’m pretty sure the walls are too thin in this place for even my parents’ comfort. Besides the pup’s with them.” _‘Not that that’s ever stopped them…’_  
  
            She blushed and looked away with embarrassment. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t…”  
  
            He rushed to assuage her discomfort. “It’s okay. I just felt it was better if I occupied myself for a little while.”  
  
            “I understand. Did you find anything worth occupying your time?”  
  
            He was wondering how he should answer when the cute little co-ed opened her big mouth.  
  
            “I told him about Fireside Coffee. Tommy Simko is playing there tonight,” she piped up happily. “It’s non-smoking.”  
  
_‘Shit. She’s probably just trying to pad the audience, but damn her timing sucks.’  
  
_             “That sounds like something fun,” Emma commented, looking at him expectantly.  
  
            He gulped, then was struck by a stroke of genius. “Yeah. I thought so too, so I was going to come up and ask you guys if you wanted to go.” _‘All of us together. Not like a date or anything like that.’  
  
_             “Really? Well, I’m glad I came down to get my jacket that I left in the car,” she said, indicating the blue coat she had draped over her arm.  
  
            “Yeah. Well. Ummm… shall we go back up and find out if the others want to come too?”  
  
            He thought she would be put off by his intimation that he didn’t want to be alone with her, but her smile widened instead.  
  
            “I think David will want to come,” she replied.  
  
            “Great. Let’s go ask him.”  
  
            He let her lead the way back to the elevator, kicking himself, and his bad luck, silently. _‘I really hope David likes coffee and folk music.’_  
  
            As it turned out both David and Michael wanted to come along, but Lori and Billy chose to stay behind. There was a marked difference between the college student and his Navajo packmates. Of the three of them, Michael was the most outspoken and outgoing. He knew that Michael had more exposure to the “outside world” off the reservation through his enrollment at the University of New Mexico in Gallup. David was a classmate of his, on scholarship from his home state of Idaho. The two were good friends and he could see that Michael had embraced at least some aspects of Western culture when he ordered a double latte.  
  
            “Why didn’t Lori and Billy want to come?” he asked, taking a sip from his mochaccino.  
  
            “Lori didn’t want to leave the… pup unprotected,” Michael replied carefully, using the word ‘pup’ deliberately.  
  
            “Unprotected?”  
  
            Michael dropped his eyes and fidgeted uncomfortably. “We… believe that the pup is… in danger.”  
  
            “Nothing is getting past my father,” he assured him.  
  
            “It’s not something physical that we are afraid will attack him. Skinwalkers don’t need to touch their victims to harm them. My sister was very careful to properly destroy her nail clippings and discarded hair, but something may have been overlooked. There was so much blood when Sara gave birth, and I know Grandmother burned the sheets, but a Skinwalker can use the smallest of things to make a curse.”  
  
            “You think that someone may try to harm the pup spiritually,” he offered.  
  
            “Or one of us. So far our trip has been blessed, but anything can happen. We can’t be too careful. Lori knows how to counteract a Skinwalker’s curse. Billy stayed to help her.”  
  
            He nodded. “I understand. Have you spoken to my mother about this?”  
  
            Michael shook his head. “No. We haven’t. It has been our experience that our… beliefs aren’t taken seriously.”  
  
            He snorted. “You travel almost 2100 km to bring a hanyou pup to a family of complete strangers, strangers that a college buddy told you weren’t **_human,_** to ask that family to adopt the pup, and you think we’ll have difficulty with your beliefs?”  
  
            “I admit it does sound far-fetched but we aren’t used to people believing us,” the Navajo admitted with a shrug.  
  
            “My mother is a miko. She has great spiritual powers. If you’re worried about the pup being attacked by a black miko, she can help you protect him. You should tell her everything you know and then she will know what to look for.”  
  
            Michael looked uncomfortable. “We… we don’t like to speak of… black mikos. Talk like that could get us cursed. Especially where coyote is involved. Coyote is… not to be trusted.”  
  
            “I can tell you that the pup’s father is not a Skinwalker. I don’t know much about coyote-youkai but if they are anything like us, the father **_knew_** your sister was fertile and **_chose_** to make her pregnant. That pup was no accident. Now if someone is unhappy enough about your sister mating with a youkai to curse her or her pup, that is a different story,” he said.  
  
            The Navajo nodded. “There are many people who are very unhappy. They will be even more unhappy when they learn we have brought the pup back. I think the only thing that spared my sister and the pup was the promise that we were taking it away. When we arrive back in the village with the pup…”  
  
            “I promise you. If your sister is in danger and we can’t find the pup’s father and find out what is going on, we will take her and the pup with us. I speak for my father in this. We will not allow the pup or his mother to be harmed. I give you my word.”  
  
            Michael’s eyes flashed with anger. “There have been many times when a man has given my people his word only to break it when it is no longer convenient.”  
  
            “I am not one of those people. I am a man of honor. My word is my bond. I don’t break my promises and neither does my father,” he answered firmly.  
  
            “It’s true, Michael,” Emma defended. “My grandfather spoke very highly of his family. When the Whites lied and tried to steal from us, his family was always honest and fair. It’s why we knew they could be trusted with your sister’s baby, and why we went to them for help.”  
  
            Michael looked contrite. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude. It’s just…”  
  
            “It’s just that I haven’t given you any reason to trust me. I understand,” he finished for him. “For what it’s worth, I know how you feel. When I was born, hanyous like me and my father were killed as a matter of course. Thousands of them were slaughtered as they took their first breath or hunted down like common pests to be exterminated.  
  
            “My biological father was murdered by humans. My biological mother died protecting me. She carried me for four days with three arrows sticking out of her back, keeping herself alive long enough to bring me to safety. I have no memory of her, but she loved me enough to give her life for me. My life growing up was full of those who hated me for being born, and many times the only safe place I had was with my family. My father did his best to give me the life he never had because **_his_** parents were killed when **_he_** was very young, but unlike me, he had no one to love him and make him feel safe. My father grew up hated, hunted and alone.  
  
            “Until he met my mother, he really didn’t trust anyone, and he still isn’t the trusting type as I’m sure you’ve already figured out. But I will tell you this. You can trust us. We will not betray you and we will do everything we can to make sure that your sister and her pup are safe.”  
  
            Michael regarded him with respect and Emma looked at him with sympathetic eyes and a gentle smile.  
  
            _‘I didn’t tell you that so you’d feel sorry for me. Don’t look at me like that. I’ve been very blessed.’  
  
_             “Thank you,” the Navajo said.  
  
            He nodded and took another sip of his mochaccino as the night’s live entertainment took the small stage: a single guitarist with an acoustic guitar. Inwardly he smiled because he loved acoustic guitar and hoped that the player was an accomplished musician. The other members of his party did the same, relaxing back into their wooden chairs and turning to face the singer as he began his first set.  
  
            Ninety enjoyable minutes and two mochaccinos later, they left the coffee shop and headed back to the Holiday Inn.  
  
            “That was really great,” Emma said as they got off the elevator and walked down the hallway towards their rooms.  
  
            “Yeah,” he agreed. It had been a very pleasant evening and he was glad that he had gone. _‘Even being close to her wasn’t so bad. The music and the other two were enough of a distraction.’  
  
_             “You know, The Sugar Bowl in Edmonton has live music on Friday and Sunday nights. Maybe someday we could go together,” she suggested.  
  
            _‘And how do I answer that without actually stomping on her?_ ’ “Ummm, maybe. We’ll see. I don’t know how busy I’m going to be now that Ian’s back in school.” ‘ _When in doubt, hedge.’_  
  
            The door to the room he shared with his parents flew open before they were even halfway down the corridor and his father, barefoot and shirtless, stood there glaring.  
  
            “Where have you **_been?_** ” Inuyasha demanded.  
  
            “Eh? Ahhh…” _‘Shit, I didn’t tell them where I was going and I turned my cell phone off so it wouldn’t ring during the performance.’_ “Emma, David, Michael and I went out for coffee.”  
  
            “For **_two hours?_** ”  
  
            “There was a folk singer there. We stayed to hear him play. I turned off my cell so it wouldn’t ring during the show. I’m sorry if I worried you.”  
  
            “Your mother has been worried sick. The other two knew you’d gone out but no one knew where.”  
  
            He flattened his ears against his head. He hated causing his mother any distress.  
  
            “I’m sorry, Otou-san.”  
  
            “It’s my fault,” Emma interrupted. “He meant to call you before we went into the shop but I distracted him and he forgot. I’m sorry. Please don’t be angry with him.”  
  
            His father gave her a raised eyebrow, then looked at him for a moment of silence.  
  
            “Keh! Whatever! Just don’t do it again. Things are stressful enough without you haring off with a female.”  
  
            “Me?! I was not haring off with a female! David and Michael came too! Just ask them!”  
  
            “Right. Get in here and prove to your mother that you’re still alive and unharmed.”  
  
            Behind him, Emma snickered and he cast her a pleading glance. David and Michael were watching with amusement as well.  
  
            “Good night, Yukio. We’ll see you in the morning.”  
  
            “Good night. Good night guys. Sleep well.”  
  
            “Night,” Michael replied.  
  
            “We’re leaving bright and early in the morning, and I don’t want to hear any of you complain about how you’re too tired,” Inuyasha scolded.  
  
            “Don’t worry, we’ll be up on time,” David assured him.  
  
            “Keh!”  
  
            Yukio gave them a final wave as Inuyasha gave him a shove and slammed the door closed.  
  



	5. Chapter Four

Chapter Four  
  
            The following morning found them all up early and down in the Holiday Inn’s lobby eating the complimentary breakfast before 8am. Yukio had slept well and he felt relatively good when he woke up. During the night, he had retrieved the pup from the car seat/bassinet he had been placed in and cuddled with him in bed. His mother didn’t want the pup bonding to her until the situation with his birth parents was resolved, so she had taken to letting him sleep in the car seat. To be separated from his caregivers was unnatural for the pup, especially one so young, and he was fussy and worried.  
  
            Yukio, never one to resist a pup’s cries of distress, took up the role his mother was reluctant to fill, and tried to see to the pup’s emotional needs. It was better for him to do it because he was a male and the pup was less likely to bond with him in the short-term. He knew if the coyote-hanyou did end up becoming brother number fifteen, his mother would raise him no differently from any of the others and would bring him into bed with her for at least the first two years, but for now he was happy to have the warm bundle of pup with him. The infant, drawn to his body heat, snuggled against his chest and his little heart provided comforting background noise to sleep by, although he was awake immediately the moment the pup moved or made a noise.  
  
            The Holiday Inn offered a simple breakfast of cold cereal, fruit, pastries, milk, juice, and coffee. There was also hot water and packets for oatmeal, hot chocolate and tea. Yukio made himself two bowls of oatmeal, ate two cheese danishes and chased it all down with coffee while he listened to his parents chat quietly over their own meals. His father was wearing his ‘Don’t Annoy the Anger Management Class Dropout’ shirt, and it was earning quite a number of chuckles. Emma sat across from him, smelling of soap and shampoo, and they exchanged pleasantries as the Cree woman ate a bowl of cereal and a banana. He had very little to say to her beyond emphasizing that the previous night had been a great deal of fun. She once again brought up the subject of The Sugar Bowl in Edmonton and he once again avoided giving her a direct answer by saying he didn’t know how busy he would be.  
  
            It wasn’t that he was against going with her. He knew that an evening out would probably be very nice and they would both have a good time, but he remained conflicted. He acknowledged the fact that there was something about her that drew him in. She was pretty, intelligent and had a vibrant personality. Her sense of humor was dry like his own and she caught most of his obscure references to movies, books and television. However he also knew that the thought of a relationship didn’t appeal to him. If it was friendship that she wanted, he was happy to provide company and companionship, but somehow he doubted that just being friends was on her agenda. While not coming directly out and saying that she was interested in a romantic relationship, she was certainly leaning heavily in that direction and he wasn’t sure what would be a good way to let her down lightly.  
  
            She seemed to be figuring it out on her own, however, because she had toned down her ‘feminine wiles’ tactics and was now keeping a respectful distance, engaging him in meaningful conversation and speaking to him in a mature, steady voice. She’d also either neglected to or had purposefully chosen not to put on any false scent, but if anything that had only made her more attractive to him because she smelled more purely of her own scent and not of manufactured perfume. He negated the effects her scent had on him by placing his coffee directly under his nose and by training his senses on the pup he had in his lap.  
  
            The other Natives sat around them, eating their own meals and the conversations were soft and congenial. It seemed that all of them had slept well and were ready for another day of driving. Kagome was eager to get on the road because she wanted to be in Park City before the stores closed. She still needed to make a concealment anchor for the pup and she was hoping to find some items in one of Park City’s numerous art stores. Lori seemed interested in helping his mother make the locus and Kagome welcomed her input. No one questioned the day’s travel itinerary or the destination, and they left as soon as all of them had finished eating.  
  
            Their early start paid off and they were on the road by 9am. Inuyasha was a little heavy on the gas pedal, and they grabbed lunch when they stopped for gas. In the Jeep, he mostly listened to his mother and Lori talk about power items and locus stones. Their conversation confirmed what he had started to suspect: that Lori was a Navajo Medicine Woman who had come along for spiritual protection.  
  
            The drive to Park City took them just over seven hours. Normally it would have taken close to eight but their earlier haste put them about half an hour ahead of schedule, and they arrived at The Grand Summit Hotel just before 4pm. The hotel was a typical ski resort made in the style of a wilderness lodge with lots of wood and open spaces. It was the central hotel of The Canyons resort village and flanked by shops and ski lifts. Guests could ski right up to the hotel from the slopes, although said slopes were closed until the ski season began.  
  
            “Ahh, welcome Mr. Fushikenwa,” the concierge greeted as they approached the VIP desk. “We are so happy to see you today. I have been instructed to inform you that you have been upgraded to one of our three-bedroom suites courtesy of Mr. Sims our general manager.”  
  
            “That was very nice of him,” his mother replied. “Please thank him for us.”  
  
            “The suite sleeps ten very comfortably,” the man told them. “The master bedroom is outfitted with a king size bed and the remaining two bedrooms have two queens each. There is also a full kitchen and living room with a Queen size sleeper sofa and a fireplace. You’ll also find a folding, rollaway twin bed in the storage closet. Will you be needing a crib for your little one?”  
  
            “That won’t be necessary, but thank you,” Kagome answered, patting the pup’s back as he rested in the baby sling looped across her shoulder.  
  
            “In that case, welcome to the Grand Summit Hotel. Please sign here and I’ll give you your pass keys. How many copies would you like for your party?” he asked, giving Inuyasha the guest registration form.  
  
            “Four should do, thank you,” his mother said.  
  
            The concierge programmed four pass keys, assembled the welcome pack with coupons, local information, schedules and maps, and they were ready to go a few minutes later.  
  
            “This hotel is very nice,” Emma commented as they made their way through the lobby to the elevators. “I can see why your mother wanted to stay here.”  
  
            “It’s also one of my father’s designs. He drew up the original plans for the complex. We didn’t build it though. Uncle took the blueprints and outsourced it to a local contractor,” he replied.  
  
            “Oh? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”  
  
            “Good thing. It’s better to hire local workers for a project. They know who can be trusted to do honest business and who can’t. They know the resources at their disposal and can usually negotiate better deals for materials. Also hiring locals helps the community so they’re less likely to resent the construction,” he explained.  
  
            “That’s good then. I’m glad to see that you and your father are so concerned about people. Then again, Grandfather always admired your family for that.”  
  
            She wasn’t patronizing him and he knew it. Her concern for the quality of life of the general populace was genuine and it was one of the things that made her so attractive.  
  
            “We lived in a two class society for a very long time. We witnessed first-hand what it is like when only a few have all of the wealth and power while the rest barely survive. The peasants of Japan bore the brunt of starvation, war and poverty while the ruling class enjoyed luxury upon luxury. It led to a great deal of bloodshed and death. The strength of a nation lies not in its leaders but in its working classes. If you support them and raise them up, they can do amazing things.”  
  
            She smiled at him as they walked down the hall to their room, bringing up the rear of their group.  
  
            “You sound like a political science major.”  
  
            He shrugged. “I just know what I’ve lived and I’ve lived through a lot.”  
  
            Her eyes grew thoughtful and hooded. “I can imagine that you have.”  
  
            He stopped and indicated that she should go ahead of him into the suite, and she gave him a little nod as she passed.  
  
            Once they had settled into the room, they all went downtown to shop. Park City was the home of the Sundance Film Festival and as such there were many eclectic shops and venues that catered to the type of visitor who frequented an ‘art town.’ Even when the film festival wasn’t going on, there were always performances and films and other activities to attend and enjoy. Not to mention the numerous restaurants and bars offering music, food and spirits to a lively crowd. The atmosphere was friendly and casual, and even the Navajos seemed to be enjoying themselves.  
  
            His mother was happy to find jewelry making supplies at C & C Indian Art, and Lori helped her select stones and materials that were favorable Medicine for Navajos. At first Lori was apprehensive about making the cord for the necklace out of a lock of Inuyasha’s hair because she worried about a ‘black miko’ getting a hold of the hair and using it to make a curse, but Kagome assured her that her own ‘miko blessings’ would protect the cord from being used for evil.  
  
            The only real damper of the evening came just before dinnertime, when they entered another store that specialized in Native art. One display of pottery caught Lori’s eye and she seemed very concerned about it. Billy and Michael saw her examining a pot and something on it made them all very, very unhappy. They began whispering in Dineh, the language of their tribe in hushed, upset voices.  
  
            “What’s going on?” Yukio asked Emma as David joined the Navajos in inspecting the pottery.  
  
            “The pottery is stolen,” she replied in a sad voice.  
  
            “It is? How do they know?”  
  
            She gave him a stricken look. “There are holes, badly patched, on the bottoms of the pots. That marks them as grave goods. The only way they could have gotten grave goods is if they raided a native burial site.”  
  
            Yukio frowned and a low growl built in his throat. To desecrate a grave was a very dishonorable thing, and he hated the thought of anyone taking something from a burial mound in order to make a profit.  
  
            “Oi, what’s wrong?” his father asked, coming over the moment he heard Yukio’s growling.  
  
            “The pottery they’re looking at was stolen from a grave,” he answered with barely contained fury.  
  
            “Oh no,” Kagome gasped.  
  
            Just then Lori let out a cry of alarm and David dropped the pot he was holding as if he had been burned. It shattered on the laminate wood floor and dark gray dust scattered everywhere.  
  
            “Hey!” the saleswoman shouted, stomping over to them. “What are you doing? You’d better pay for that!”  
  
            Lori did not answer but continued to let out a keening cry as David turned three shades of pasty white. At the same time he began to smell the unmistakable stench of black magic, and from the look on his mother’s face she was sensing it too.  
  
            “Oh my god! It’s corpse dust!” Emma cried in horror.  
  
            He didn’t know what corpse dust was, but he could garner a pretty good guess and whatever it was, it was **_not_** of the good.  
  
            Three things happened next in very quick succession. Lori fell to her knees as Billy and Michael dragged her and David away from the broken pot. The saleswoman called the police. And his mother shoved the pup into his arms as she grabbed a bow and arrow from a wall display and fired a purifying bolt into the center of the gray dust. There was a bright flash of white light and he felt the purifying energy obliterate the black aura from the ashes.  
  
            “What was that?” Emma gasped, wide-eyed.  
  
            The other Natives were staring too, slack-jawed and stunned. Lori finally stopped keening and stared at his mother in awe.  
  
            “Keh, Kagome made a miko’s arrow and got rid of that shouki,” Inuyasha replied as if his answer explained everything and resolutely moved to guard the broken pot until the authorities got there.  
  
            Emma looked to him for translation as his mother went over to Lori and David and touched their trembling hands.  
  
            “My mother purified the corpse dust,” he said gently.  
  
            “She did?”  
  
            He nodded. “I told you. My mother is a miko. She has great spiritual powers.”  
  
            Emma blinked at him. “I know you told us, but…” She glanced over at the others. Lori was crying but the Navajo woman seemed to be more relieved than anything else. “But I’ve never seen anything like that.”  
  
            He shrugged. “I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”  
  
            “Did… did your mother have to do that a lot while you were growing up?” she asked carefully.  
  
            “Sometimes. She hasn’t had to in a while though. I’m really glad to see that she hasn’t lost any of her touch. She didn’t hesitate for even a second and her arrow, if anything, was over-powered.”  
  
            Emma was silent for a long moment. “You really have lived through a lot, haven’t you,” she commented finally, her voice soft with realization.  
  
            He nodded, casting about the small store for any other threats. His hackles were up and his protective instincts were on overdrive. In his arms, the pup was quiet but awake, his big eyes peering up at him from the baby sling.  
  
            :Pup safe,: he reassured the infant, punctuating his statement with a rub to the pup’s bottom.  
  
            Emma placed herself at his side, her own eyes following his as he scanned the room. Somehow her presence was comforting, as if she was silently telling him that she had his back. It was odd. Usually it was one of his parents or siblings that took up the defensive position next to him in a dangerous situation. Miaka had always screamed and run for cover whenever danger struck, and she had never offered her strength to his.  
  
            In stark contrast, the Cree woman now stood at his shoulder, back straight, eyes studying the store for anything he may have overlooked. There was no fear in her scent. Anger, yes. But fear? No. She kept her head high and her expression neutral- a warrior’s face and posture, and he was suddenly glad she was there.  
  
_‘She’s lived through a lot too. And her people haven’t had the easiest time of it either,’_ he thought.  
  
            He looked at her and caught her eye, giving her a reassuring smile. She seemed surprised for a moment, then smiled back before returning her eyes to the watching of the store. He did notice, however, that she stood a little taller and moved slightly closer to him.  
  
            The police arrived but what they had been told was a case of vandalism of merchandise soon turned into a full-fledged investigation of grave robbing and the sale of stolen goods. A representative from the local tribal council was called to verify the claims that the pottery were burial offerings and all hell broke loose from there. Lori was still badly shaken, but his mother’s arrow had gone a long way towards making the woman feel safe. She and David had scrubbed their hands raw in the bathroom in an effort to get the corpse dust off of them, and Kagome had done more purification to make sure no shouki lingered.  
  
            The tribal representative made arrangements for all of them to go to the house of a local Medicine Man for a cleansing ceremony, and less than an hour later they found themselves in the living room of a Hopi elder named Sun Hawk although everyone called him Tom.  
  
            “I want to thank you,” Tom said after the cleansing ritual had been completed. “We’ve suspected that store of selling burial offerings for a while but this was the first time we’ve been able to prove it. I am sorry that it caused you such a scare though.”  
  
            “We are glad that we could help,” Lori replied shakily. “I should have known the pot was corpse dust the moment I saw it had a lid and warned David not to touch it. I am glad that Kagome was able to banish the curse so quickly.”  
  
            The Medicine Man turned dark eyes towards his mother and he wasn’t sure if he liked the look in them. He and his father had removed themselves from the circle as soon as Tom had completed the ritual, and they now sat on the floor with their backs against the nearest wall. He had the pup with him, but the little one was sleeping. He seemed quite oblivious to the world around him as long as he was fed, dry and warm.  
  
            “Ah yes, the arrow. That was quick thinking on your part. Lori tells me you are a Medicine Woman.”  
  
            Yukio could see the color rise in his mother’s cheeks but she answered calmly.  
  
            “Yes. I am a miko. From what Lori has told me, that is very similar to a Medicine Woman.”  
  
            Tom nodded. “If you hadn’t acted when you did, the corpse dust could have brought very serious harm to everyone there. Corpse dust is a curse of the worst kind. To find a pot of corpse dust being sold in a store where any unsuspecting individual could have bought it is very disturbing. The consequences could have been dire.”  
  
            “I only did what felt right. The aura on the dust was very corrupted. I couldn’t let it go unpurified.”  
  
            “And you were right to do what you did. Thank you,” Tom assured her.  
  
            “You’re welcome.”  
  
            “So, what brings you to Park City?” Tom asked.  
  
            “We’re on our way back to the Navajo Nation,” Michael replied, but did not elaborate.  
  
            Yukio got the distinct impression that the young Navajo had purposefully left the question half answered. Tom looked over at him, the pup and his father and, once again, he felt a little uneasy. The man’s eyes were wiser than his years, and Yukio wouldn’t put it past him to be able to see completely through the concealment spells. He knew Lori could see a little bit of what they really looked like, and Emma could see flashes in her peripheral vision, but he was pretty sure Tom could see their true forms without any distortion.  
  
            “I see,” was all Tom said thoughtfully.  
  
            “We’re leaving early tomorrow morning for Kayenta,” Lori added.  
  
            “Well, I wish you safe journeys. Have you eaten yet?”  
  
            “No, we were on our way to dinner when we went into the store with the stolen pottery,” David answered.  
  
            “Well, I am sure I can provide you with a hearty meal of beans and frybread,” Tom offered, then cracked a huge grin. “Or we could just order out for pizza.”  
  
            “Pizza sounds good,” David agreed.  
  
            “You’re sure? I could make frybread if you’d prefer.”  
  
            “No, pizza is fine,” Michael insisted as Tom laughed.  
  
            Yukio got the impression that the frybread reference was somewhat of a joke and he made a mental note to ask Emma about it later. His father wasn’t a big fan of pizza but he would eat it if he had to. Tom had a delivery menu for a local Italian place that made pasta dinners as well as the usual pizza and hoagies, and they ordered from that. Even though there were nine of them, they only ordered three pizzas because Kagome wanted eggplant parmesan and his father ordered a stromboli. He got the local equivalent of Mel’s Meat Lovers in a large while the others split a sausage and mushroom and a green peppers, onions and olives. Despite protests, his father insisted on paying for the food and wouldn’t even let the others pay the deliveryman’s tip.  
  
            The pizza was passable, but not better than Mel’s. Still it was a decent meal for the money and he had no complaints. His mother liked her dinner and Inuyasha said nothing about the quality, or lack thereof, of his stromboli. Tom asked a couple of questions about the pup while they ate, but he let Michael answer since he was the pup’s uncle. His respect for the young Navajo grew as he quickly realized that Michael was trying to truthfully answer the questions without revealing anything about the true nature of the hanyous among them. As for himself, when he had to answer a question, he kept it brief and as honest as possible. They weren’t lying to Tom. They just weren’t telling him everything. Somehow, he thought the old Hopi knew, however, because he’d get a little glint in his eye whenever they were stammering for the right words to answer another one of his innocently placed questions.  
  
            “We thank you again for your hospitality and the cleansing ritual,” Lori said after the pizza was eaten and the dishes cleaned. “However we must return to our hotel. We have a long drive tomorrow and we need to get some sleep.”  
  
            “I’m glad that I was able to help, although in truth your miko did most of my work for me,” Tom replied as they all stood.  
  
            “Still, your knowledge and company was greatly appreciated,” Billy assured him.  
  
            “Thank you for helping us catch grave robbers and those who profit from them.”  
  
            Yukio gave the pup to his mother as they began to file out of the man’s small one-bedroom apartment. The pup had made noise only when he needed something and he had to admit that the infant was the quietest pup he’d ever seen. Even though he was not even two weeks old and could barely turn himself over, he was still much calmer and sweet tempered than he remembered most pups. Michael said the pup was taking after Sara because she was a sweet and gentle-tempered young woman herself. The Navajo had told him that his sister’s Dineh name translated to Sweet-Wind because of her kind nature and soft voice.  
  
            “And this little one,” Tom said as they were passing, putting out a hand to touch the pup’s chest.  
  
            The pup, roused from a sound sleep by the touch, let out a startled cry that had Inuyasha charging to Kagome’s side.  
  
            “Easy. I don’t mean him any harm and I didn’t mean to frighten him,” the Hopi elder apologized, then addressed the pup in Hopi, speaking gently and softly to him.  
  
            The pup turned his small head to face the wizened Elder, his amber eyes blinking slowly at him. He was silent until Tom finished speaking, then he gave a single yip in answer as if he had understood every word the man had spoken. While they were shocked by the pup’s reply, the Hopi Medicine Man merely smiled and nodded as if receiving an answer from a 12-day old pup was the most natural thing in the world.  
  
            “May you have safe journeys. I hope to see you again sometime when you have more time to sit with an old man and trade stories,” Tom commented fondly to him and his parents.  
  
            Yukio blinked at him, then replied, “Maybe someday. The next time we’re here, we’ll look you up.”  
  
            His father gave him a raised-eyebrow that clearly said, ‘We will?’ but he otherwise kept quiet.  
  
            “It was a pleasure to meet you,” his mother said, giving a little bow.  
  
            Tom bowed to her. “The pleasure was mine. Thank you.”  
  
            “Take care and thanks again,” she repeated as they headed out the apartment door.  
  
            “Be safe.”  
  
            “You too.”  
  
            “Keh, c’mon. You were the one who wanted a hot tub,” Inuyasha complained, which only meant that he was tired of the formalities because they were making him uncomfortable.  
  
            “Inuyasha, don’t be rude,” Kagome chastised.  
  
            “I’m not!” his father insisted.  
  
            His mother just sighed and called him a baka under her breath as they entered the hallway of Tom’s apartment building. The Natives were ahead of them, walking towards the elevator.  
  
            “I heard that.”  
  
            “Good.”  
  
            Yukio was the last to leave and he gave the Hopi man a bow of his own. “Take care.”  
  
            “Safe travels, Dog-brother. I hope that I will see you again. I know there are many things you can teach me before I return to the earth. Look after the little one. He is very special.”  
  
            He wasn’t terribly surprised to hear the man call him ‘dog-brother’ but a shiver of old fear ran up his spine anyway and he stared at Tom for a good three or four seconds before nodding. The old man just gave him a knowing smile and wink.  
  
            “I will. Thanks,” he finally answered.  
  
            “Take care.”  
  
            “You too.”  
  
            “Oi! You coming or not?!” his father’s voice yelled from the elevator.  
  
            Tom laughed and Yukio gave him a little shrug, then hurried to join the rest of them at the end of the hall.  
  
             
  
********  
  
  
  
            Emma was dreaming. She was in the forest near her childhood home, running along the narrow deer trails like she used to do as a little girl. She was jubilant, free and untamed as the wilderness, and joy surged through her as her feet barely touched the ground. Running just ahead of her, darting in and out of the trees was a magnificent white dog, his full white tail waving like a flag. The dog wasn’t fleeing from her and she didn’t appear to be chasing it. Rather they were running together and he, for she somehow knew the dog was male, was leading the way.  
  
            They ran, she and the dog, following the twisted paths through the trees, over the hills and across the streams, down into the gullies. There was nothing but forest before and behind them, nothing but the earth and the smell of the pines, nothing but the unfettered joy of running free with nothing but the wind at their backs. She couldn’t remember a time when she’d felt so light and unfettered. There were no worries, no dangers or responsibilities. There was only her, and the forest, and the dog.  
  
            The trees broke suddenly and she followed the dog into a small clearing. She immediately recognized it as an old meeting place where her family used to picnic while she was growing up. Logs had been placed around a central fire-pit ringed with stones and a fire burned low in it now. She could smell the distinct odor of tobacco and white sage wafting up in the gray smoke. Standing on the opposite side of the clearing was her grandfather and she knew he had been waiting for her. Even though he had been dead for eight years, she wasn’t surprised to see him. Those who had passed on often used the dream world to visit or relay messages. His face was painted in bright ceremonial colors and he was dressed in full regalia with a fur cap and feathers in his hair. The dog circled around and sat on the edge of the clearing about halfway between her and her grandfather.  
  
            “Grandfather,” she said, coming to stand an arm’s length away from him.  
  
            “Forest-Child,” he answered, calling her by her Cree name. “You have found him.”  
  
            She knew who he meant. Years ago he had told her stories of the half-dogs and confided in her their secrets. It was his belief that she would become part of the family by marrying their son.  
  
            “He does not want me,” she stated simply. It was true. Yukio, if he was the son her grandfather had spoken of, was making it plainly clear that he was not interested in romantic involvement. _‘But he spoke of brothers. Perhaps he will lead me to the one I am meant to marry.’  
  
_             “Do not let his actions deter you. He speaks from his pain.”  
  
            “I fear there is too much for him to open his heart,” she admitted.  
  
            Her grandfather shook his head. “The outcome has already been decided. You must stay the course. It is your calling.”  
  
            “You have told me since I was a little girl that I was destined to join the family of the dogs, but are you sure he is the one?”  
  
            “He is with you now. You followed him here. Already you begin to share the same dreams.”  
  
_‘Here with me? The white dog…’  
  
_             She turned to look where the dog had been and gasped when she saw a naked man crouched in its place. White hair cascaded down over the pale shoulders, brushing the ground, as he raised his head to look at her. She saw his face; his golden eyes stared into hers, and…  
  
            She woke up.  
  
            Emma drew a deep breath, her heart still pounding in her ears, the paralysis of sleep still making her limbs tingle as it faded. It was dark in the room and she could hear the soft breathing of another occupant, but she didn’t know where she was at first. A few moments later she remembered her cousin coming to her for help and the trip down from Edmonton to seek out the family of half-dogs.  
  
_‘We found them. We’re with them now. We’re headed down to Arizona together,’_ she reminded herself as she further got her bearings. _‘We’re in Utah.’  
  
_             It took her about ten minutes but she eventually sat up and shook off the last effects of the dream. She remembered only bits and pieces of it, but she knew it was important. Her grandfather had been in it as well as a white dog who had turned into a man. The symbolism was not lost on her.  
  
_‘He told me to stay the course.’  
  
_             Quietly so as not to disturb Lori who was sleeping in the other bed, she stood up and reached for her cotton robe. The clock on the nightstand read 2:41am and she rubbed her tired eyes as her stomach grumbled.  
  
_‘Hmmm, I’m hungry. I always eat when I’m stressed. I have a little money with me. I wonder if anything is open this early in the morning. The welcome pack is on the kitchen counter. It’ll tell me if there are any 24-hour places to get food.’  
  
_             Walking on silent feet, she made her way to the bedroom door and slipped out, closing it behind her with a soft click. The suite was palatial compared to her little apartment on the Enoch Reserve, and the kitchen was huge. She made her way over to the peninsula countertop and noticed that there was a light on in the living room area. A glance revealed Yukio lying on the couch. He was still dressed in his jeans and T-shirt, but he hadn’t pulled out the bed in the sleeper sofa. He had the baby on his chest, one hand on the infant’s back, while the other held a book. He was looking directly at her so she knew he had seen her. As always when she was looking at him, she saw glimpses of his true form in her peripheral vision, making his concealed form a little disconcerting when she looked at him full on.  
  
            _‘He has white hair, but does he have golden eyes?’_ she wondered. All she remembered of the man’s face in her dream was his intense gold eyes. _‘Will he ever show me what he really looks like?’  
  
_             He was staring at her as she stared at him, a small frown on his face, and she figured that she’d better go talk to him.  
  
            “Is everything alright?” he asked her in a hushed voice.  
  
            “Yes. I just woke up and was a little hungry.”  
  
            She watched him mark his place with a bookmark as he closed the book and put it aside. She caught a glimpse of the cover, but it was written in Japanese.  
  
            “What are you doing awake?” she questioned.  
  
            “Couldn’t sleep. Weird dreams,” he answered, shifting position so he could support the baby as he sat up.  
  
            “Oh? What kind of dreams?”  
  
            He shook his head. “I don’t remember much of them. Mostly I was running in the woods.”  
  
            She gulped and tried to quell the butterflies in her stomach. “Was there anyone running with you?” _‘Is he really the one?’  
  
_             “I think so, but I never saw who it was. In any case, I figured I’d read a while then try to get some more sleep.”  
  
            He raked a hand through his black hair and she saw the flash of white again.  
  
            “So, you’re hungry?”  
  
            She blushed and nodded. “Yeah. It’s okay though. I was going to see if anything was open.”  
  
            He frowned a little. “It’s off season, so maybe not. Let me call down to the front desk and see if they’re still serving room service.”  
  
            “There’s no need to do that. I can just go down and get something from the vending machines.”  
  
            “It isn’t a problem. Besides, I thought you modern women are always watching what you eat,”  
  
            “I don’t think a bag of potato chips is going to break my diet.”  
  
            He chuckled, his eyes sparkling. “Potato chips were one of the first things my mother ever gave to my father. He’d never had them before. He called them himono which means dried food. He still likes them, but he prefers ramen over pretty much anything else. Here, can you take the pup for a moment?”  
  
            He offered her the baby in his blanket and she took him, supporting him under his bottom and cradling him against her. She saw the new necklace Kagome and Lori had made for him that evening, then noticed that the talisman Yukio had loaned the baby was now back around his neck.  
  
            Yukio picked up the phone before she could protest and called down to the front desk.  
  
            “Hi, this is Yukio Fushikenwa in Suite 318, I was wondering if any room service is still available.” He waited for the person on the other end to answer. “Uh huh. Hmmm, I don’t know. Let me ask.” He looked at her, one hand over the receiver. “She says the kitchen is closed but they have pre-made sandwiches that they can bring up if you want one of them. Usually they have turkey, ham and roast beef.”  
  
            “Turkey if they have it will be fine.” _‘A sandwich is better than junk food. I’m glad this hotel thought enough ahead to prepare for guests with late night munchies. I guess that kind of service is what makes them a luxury resort.’  
  
_             He nodded. “Okay.” Then he took his hand off the receiver and spoke into the phone. “One turkey and one roast beef. Yeah, that’s all. Just charge it to the room. Thanks very much.” He hung up and turned to her. “It’ll be here in twenty minutes.”  
  
            “You didn’t have to do that,” she insisted.  
  
            He shrugged. “I’m hungry too and there’s no sense in eating alone.”  
  
            “Hungry? I’m sure you are. You only ate a whole pizza for dinner,” she joked. _‘Seriously, both he and his father have huge appetites! Both of them should be obese with how much they eat, yet I don’t think there’s a spare ounce of flesh on either of them.’  
  
_             “Yeah, I know. I’m wasting away,” he answered, patting his stomach.  
  
            The baby began to rouse and made little noises.  
  
            “Feeding time,” Yukio said, holding out his hands to take the infant.  
  
            “I think he has your appetite,” she commented dryly as she handed him over.  
  
            “Heh, I don’t doubt it. Poor little guy is too thin. Now that he’s getting fed whenever he fusses, he’ll start to gain some weight. Right, pup?”  
  
            She smiled as Yukio nuzzled the baby then stood up, taking him to the kitchen and getting a bottle ready. Watching him care for the infant, and seeing how attentive he was to the baby’s needs, was endearing.  
  
_‘He loves children, but he didn’t say if he had any of his own. When I called him paternal, he said he had lots of brothers and sisters, but never mentioned sons or daughters.’  
  
_             “You and your wife didn’t have children?” she blurted out, then regretted it immediately when she saw his eyes darken with pain. ‘ _Way to go, idiot_.’ “I’m sorry. It’s none of my business.”  
  
            “No. It’s okay. No, we didn’t have any pups. Hanyous like me have a lot of trouble siring pups. We need help to do it. It wasn’t until fertility clinics and in-vitro fertilization that hanyous were able to have pups. Miaka died long before any of those things were available. My little brother Ian is seven and he was the first hanyou-human cross pup ever born alive.”  
  
            “I’m sorry to bring up a sensitive subject. Sometimes my mouth runs away with me.”  
  
            He shrugged as much as he could while holding the bottle for the nursing baby. “It’s okay. It’s a logical question to ask.”  
  
            “I shouldn’t pry into someone’s personal business. Please accept my apologies.” _‘He’s closed up again. Damnit. Can I get any stupider? Grandfather told me to stay the course, but I don’t think he meant for me to do it quite this way. All I keep doing is ripping open his wounds.’  
  
_             “Apology accepted.”  
  
            They fell silent and she looked down at her hands for a few awkward moments. The baby sucked noisily from the bottle Yukio held for him but otherwise there was no sound.  
  
            “I do know how it looks,” Yukio said suddenly, breaking the silence.  
  
            “Hmm?” she asked, confused.  
  
            “Me and pups. I know I’m really paternal. I dunno. I just…” She saw him smile at the baby in his arms. “I just like them. Always have. I was three when my parents adopted my brother Tomo.”  
  
            “Tomo? Is he… like you?” _‘Maybe I can get him to talk about his family and I’ll learn more about him. I noticed that he keeps redirecting the subject every time things get a little to close to home.’  
  
_             Yukio leaned against the counter and a thoughtful look came to his face. “Like me in that he is a hanyou, yes, but he isn’t an inu-hanyou. He’s a koumori hanyou.”  
  
            “Koumori?” she repeated.  
  
            “Bat.”  
  
            “Bat? He’s half-bat?” She tried to hold in her instinctive laughter as she recalled the numerous stories of the fictitious bat-boy touted on the front cover of American gossip newspapers.  
  
            “Half bat-youkai. And not just any bat-youkai, a hyakki koumori, a terror bat. Nasty bastards.”  
  
            His explanation and clarification sobered her and she nodded.  
  
            “His mother was raped by one of them. She came to the village we lived in to have the pup and left him with us,” he went on, moving the baby to his shoulder to be burped. “My parents were the only parents he ever knew.”  
  
            “I’m sure they raised him well.”  
  
            He gave her a smile that reached his eyes.  
  
            _‘He really loves his family,’_ she realized.  
  
            “They did. He was a challenge because he wasn’t as resilient as I was. He was… delicate and fine-boned. Still is.”  
  
            “Does he look… much like a bat?”  
  
            Yukio shook his head. “About as much as I look like a dog.”  
  
            She blinked at him and he shrugged. “Remember what the pup looked like when you first brought him to us, before my mother made the concealment locus?”  
  
            She nodded that she did.  
  
            “I look a bit like that.”  
  
            She was just about to ask him if he also had white hair and golden eyes, but a knock on the door interrupted them.  
  
            “That would be room service,” he said, handing her the baby and moving to get the door.  
  
            A woman dressed in a uniform came in wheeling a cart. On the cart were two saran-wrapped plates with sandwiches and snack-size bags of potato chips.  
  
            “I also have an assortment of drinks for you to choose from, sir,” the woman said, lifting the lid off a large ice bucket.  
  
            “Got Pepsi?” he asked.  
  
            “Yes, sir.”  
  
            “I’ll take one of them.”  
  
            “Very good, Sir. For you, Miss?”  
  
            “What do you have that’s colorless?” she asked. She hated sodas with caramel coloring. They always left a nasty film on her teeth.  
  
            The woman paused and looked at her inventory. “I have Sprite and Ginger Ale.”  
  
            “Ginger Ale please.”  
  
            The woman lifted a can of Ginger Ale out of the ice and placed it next to the can of Pepsi on the tray.  
  
            “Thank you,” she said.  
  
            “Will you need any condiments for your sandwiches?”  
  
            “Have you got mustard and mayo?” Yukio asked.  
  
            “Yes, Sir. I have packets of both with me.”  
  
            “I’ll take one of each.”  
  
            “Just mayo for me, thanks,” she added.  
  
            “Of course.”  
  
            The woman pulled out packets of mustard and mayonnaise from a plastic tub on the lower shelf of the cart and placed them on the tray next to the sandwiches.  
  
            “Will there be anything else?” the employee asked.  
  
            “No, that’s everything. Thanks,” Yukio replied, handing the woman a tip Emma had seen him take out of his back pocket and lifting the tray from the rolling cart.  
  
            “Thank you very much, Sir. Have a good evening.”  
  
            “You too,” he replied.  
  
            The woman wheeled the cart out and Emma shut the door as Yukio brought the tray over to the table. Just then they heard another door open and she looked over to see Inuyasha standing in the doorway of the master bedroom. He cast about, his face frowning and she got the impression that he’d been roused out of a deep sleep and wasn’t happy about it. She watched him scan the room until his eyes fell on her and Yukio, then he tipped his head back and rolled his eyes with a derisive snort.  
  
            Yukio snorted back, ripped the plastic cover off his sandwich and threw the bag of potato chips clear across the room toward his father. Her eyes widened when Inuyasha caught the bag without so much as a blink and opened it with a soft pop. He gave another snort, shoved a chip into his mouth, then went back into the bedroom and closed the door without ever saying a word.  
  
            Yukio shook his head and let out a soft chuckle.  
  
            “If he keeps catching us like this, he’s going to get the wrong idea,” she teased lightly. _‘If I joke with him, it might put him more at ease with me.’  
  
_             “He already has the wrong idea,” Yukio replied, slathering mayo and mustard on his roast beef and Swiss sandwich.  
  
            “That’s funny. Parents make the worst matchmakers, but it’s usually the mothers not the fathers that push,” she noted, sitting down and putting the baby in her lap.  
  
            “Oh I’m sure I’ll hear my mother’s opinion. My father will tell her we’re out here and she’ll give me sly looks all day long in the car tomorrow,” he answered, going into the living room area to retrieve the car seat bassinet.  
  
            He took the baby from her and put him in the bassinet, then put the carrier on the table so they could keep an eye on him.  
  
            “My grandfather was the same way,” she admitted, inspecting her sandwich. It looked very good. She took off the tomato but left the lettuce and spread mayo on one side.  
  
            Yukio nodded. “Your grandfather was a good man.”  
  
            She sighed. “He is sorely missed.”  
  
            “I’m sure he is. He didn’t trust us at first, but my father brought him around.”  
  
            “He was the first man who ever went out of his way to keep his word to us. My grandfather told me about the fiasco Wetaskiwin,” she commented.  
  
            “I remember that. The original contractor was charged with fraud,” he said, taking a huge bite of his food.  
  
            “And he used substandard materials. Your father took over the project, redid everything properly and renegotiated the contract for less than what the previous bidder demanded. Grandfather said it was the first time he had ever done business with someone who didn’t just say he was honest but who actually was honest and fair.”  
  
            She watched Yukio pop open his soda and take a drink. “My family is very honorable. There was a time when honor was all that we had. Honor is very important to us. It’s one of the reasons why we are doing this. There is no honor in taking a woman’s pup away from her against her will.”  
  
            “I agree with you. But I must warn you that it might not be as easy as it seems. Lori and Billy are very worried about retribution. They don’t want anything to happen to the tribe and Michael is very concerned about his sister’s safety.”  
  
            He looked at her and his face grew resolute. “I promise you. Nothing will happen to the pup or his mother.”  
  
            “I know. I’m just warning you that things might not go smoothly.”  
  
            “Thank you for the warning. We will keep our eyes open and try to be ready for the worst. I am hoping it won’t come to that. I am also hoping that we’ll find out what happened to the pup’s father.”  
  
            She nodded and took a bite from her sandwich. “His absence is the real mystery here, isn’t it?”  
  
            “Yeah it is. In this era, no youkai would abandon a mate and pup like this. At least not one with any honor.”  
  
            “What makes you think he has honor? It is Coyote after all,” she countered.  
  
            “Because coyote is still canine and canine-youkai value family. We value the Pack above all else.”  
  
            “But many coyotes are solitary,” she pointed out.  
  
            “Only when prey is scarce and large prey is not to be found. But you’re also making a big mistake here. Coyote-youkai are no more like the animal coyote than I am like a dog. We share behaviors and traits with our animal cousins, but they are **_distant_** relatives. Don’t confuse coyote with the youkai who bears his image.”  
  
            It was a gentle rebuke but she felt it just the same and she lowered her eyes. “I’m sorry if I’ve offended you.”  
  
            “You haven’t offended me. I‘m just telling you like it is.”  
  
            “And you would know better than I in this matter,” she admitted, taking another bite.  
  
            “In some things, no. In this particular situation, yes we do know better. That’s not arrogance, it’s just the truth. We know how to deal with other youkai whereas you have no experience with them,” he stated simply, finishing off his sandwich.  
  
            “I didn’t think you were being arrogant. If anything, you have been remarkably plain and straightforward about all of this.”  
  
            “Thanks.”  
  
            She took a moment to eat her food and offer him the bag of potato chips.  
  
            “You sure?” he asked.  
  
            “I’m not overly fond of the plain ones. I like sour cream and onion or sour cream and cheddar flavor.”  
  
            He gave her a grin as he ripped open the bag. “Mmmmm, sour cream and cheddar flavor is yummy.”  
  
            _‘He can be so friendly when he wants to be. He is as mercurial as smoke on the wind._ ’ “So when do you think we’ll get to Kayenta?”  
  
            “If we leave by 10, we should be there by 7. I think it will take around 9 hours. Once we get off the interstate and have to travel on secondary roads, it’ll be slower going.”  
  
            “But beautiful,” she added.  
  
            “Oh yes, it’ll be very beautiful. I’m just hoping we don’t get stuck behind a camper.”  
  
            She giggled and remembered the weapon he had drawn on the first day they met. “You’ll just have to draw that huge sword of yours and cut it in half.”  
  
            “Screw that. I’ll blast the damn thing off the road in one blow.”  
  
            “Where did you get that sword anyway? I’ve never seen anything like it.”  
  
            “It’s a youkai-blade. It’s made from my father’s fang. All of my brothers have swords like it.”  
  
            “From Inuyasha’s fang?” _‘A blade that big was forged from a tooth?’  
  
_             Yukio nodded and finished off the chips. “Each of us got one when we came of age. They were made by a famous youkai sword smith and each one is uniquely designed to meet the needs of its wielder.”  
  
            “It sounds like a very special gift.”  
  
            “It is. Kenshuga has saved my life more than once.”  
  
            “Is Kenshuga the name of the sword?”  
  
            “Yeah. It means Dog Protecting Fang. My father wasn’t very imaginative when it came to naming things.”  
  
            “Somehow, I’m not surprised to hear that.”  
  
            He chuckled and finished off his soda just as she finished her meal and drink.  
  
            “Well, it’s almost 3:30 in the morning and I know my father will want to get an early start. You should try to get some sleep,” he said.  
  
            “Yes, I should. Thank you for the food.”  
  
            “It’s no problem.”  
  
            She stood, gathered the plates and trash, and took them into the kitchen while Yukio changed the baby’s diaper and held him again.  
  
            “So I’ll see you in a few hours,” she said.  
  
            “Yeah. Sleep well.”  
  
            “You too. Be careful of those weird dreams.”  
  
            He laughed softly and smiled. “I will.”  
  
            _‘How do I win you?’_ “Thanks again. Goodnight.”  
  
            “Goodnight.”  
  
            She gave him a final smile and returned to the room she shared with Lori.  
  
            _‘Well, that was rather nice,’_ she thought as she settled back into bed. ‘ _Maybe this isn’t as hopeless as I originally thought.’  
  
_             She closed her eyes and let sleep take her as she went back to the land of dreams, her grandfather, and golden-eyed white dogs.  



	6. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: The basis for some of the events in this chapter were derived from the following website:
> 
> http://perdurabo10.tripod.com/id107.html
> 
> Navajo words:  
> Belagana - white man  
> Hataalii - medicine man

Chapter Five  
  
            “What was it?” Kagome asked as he closed the bedroom door behind him, munching on the potato chips his son had tossed him. _‘Mmm, kettle chips. Not bad.’_  
  
            “Yukio and that Cree girl ordered room service,” Inuyasha replied.  
  
            “Emma? He’s up with Emma?”  
  
            He nodded and finished off the chips, throwing the empty bag into the trash.  
  
            “Hmmmm,” she answered, rolling onto her back in the bed.  
  
            “Oi, leave him alone,” he warned.  
  
            “I wasn’t thinking of interfering,” she protested but he saw her pout.  
  
            “Sure you weren’t,” he replied, undoing the tie on the waistband of his sweatpants and sliding them off.  
  
            “What are you doing?”  
  
            “Getting into bed with you. What’s it look like I’m doing?”  
  
            “Mou,” she sighed as he slid under the covers and snuggled up.  
  
            She was still dressed in her nightshirt, but it was a button-up one and easily removed. He knew because he’d already taken it off of her once already.  
  
            “Mmmmm,” he murmured, nuzzling her neck. :Mate.:  
  
            She kissed him dutifully. “You’re just trying to distract me from thinking about our son.”  
  
            “I’m trying to get you to leave well enough alone. Yukio’s an adult. What he does with his love-life is none of our business. If you try to meddle, you’ll mess things up.”  
  
            “I will not. Look at Souta and Hitomi. I didn’t mess that up, did I?”  
  
            “Only because that boy finally figured out he had a spine and told the girl he liked her.”  
  
            “Oh and you never had any trouble telling me how you felt,” she teased.  
  
            “Of course I didn’t. I told you how I felt all the time. You just weren’t listening to me,” he countered, whuffing into her hair and sliding one leg over hers.  
  
            “I can’t believe you just said that.”  
  
            He snickered and licked her throat. She moaned softly and relaxed.  
  
            _‘Yeah, that’s it…’_ Four hundred and sixty years and he hadn’t lost his touch.  
  
            “I just… I just hope he finds someone to love him. He’s so alone,” he heard her whisper.  
  
_‘Then again, maybe I have.’  
  
_             He sighed and backed off a little, but still held her. She turned her head to look at him, her eyes searching for him in the darkness. He, on the other hand, could see her perfectly.  
  
            “This is the first time I’ve seen him even look twice at someone since Miaka died.”  
  
            “All the more reason to let it alone,” he insisted.  
  
            She sighed again, but it was one of defeat. “I just want him to be happy.”  
  
            “I know. So do I. But we have to let him do this on his own.”  
  
            He smelled the anger enter her scent and braced for an outburst.  
  
            “Why? We kept silent when he mated Miaka. You and I both had doubts about her. We both thought she was too weak for him, but we said nothing and look what happened.”  
  
            “I know. But sometimes pups have to make their own mistakes before they learn. I don’t think Yukio will fall for another weak woman again. He’ll be a lot more cautious this time.”  
  
            “What if he’s too cautious? What if he’s so afraid of getting hurt again that he won’t open up enough to let someone love him?” she argued.  
            “If he does and the woman gives up on him, then she isn’t the one. You think I would have opened up to you after Kikyou if you hadn’t put yourself in my face every chance you got? If she’s worthy of him, she’ll prove herself, just the way you did.”  
  
            “Inuyasha…” he heard her breathe in awe and he fluffed a little with pride, then her scent tinged with sadness and he frowned.  
  
            “But… do you think you would have even given me a chance if I hadn’t been Kikyou’s reincarnation?” she whispered softly.  
  
            Now it was his turn to get irritated. “How can you even say that? After all this time?”  
  
            “It’s a legitimate question. I thought you hated me in the beginning.”  
  
            “Keh. If anything your resemblance to Kikyou actually worked against you at first. I wanted nothing to do with the woman who had killed me. Remember when you broke my seal, I had no idea that 50 years had passed. For me, it was only moments between when she shot me with her arrow and when you revived me. I woke up hating Kikyou. It wasn’t until after… when I realized we’d **_both_** been betrayed…”  
  
            “That you realized your hate was unfounded,” she finished.  
  
            “Yeah.”  
  
            “Do you think Emma could be Miaka’s reincarnation?”  
  
            “Huh? No, I don’t think so. While your scent is unique, there is a similarity to Kikyou’s. Hers is completely different from Yukio’s mate. Also, if it is her, she found him immediately in the next incarnation and she couldn’t have learned much in the between years,” he replied.  
  
            “Maybe she felt she had to right the wrongs she had done to him and couldn’t wait for a few lifetimes to pass.”  
  
            He shook his head. “No. We both knew Miaka wasn’t the one for him. They were never devoted to each other the way we are.”  
  
            “He was devoted,” she corrected.  
  
            “It only counts if it goes both ways,” he countered. “She didn’t feel the same way. Why else would she have made him watch her die? She wouldn’t even let him kill her quickly so she wouldn’t suffer. She wanted to hurt him as much as she could. True mates don’t try to destroy the other. No, I don’t think she’ll ever look for him and that’s probably a very good thing.”  
  
            “I agree. I just hope she doesn’t hurt him.”  
  
            He drew her closer and nuzzled her chin. “If she does, we’ll give her to Eri and let her take care of it.”  
  
            She winced. “Ouch, that was cold.”  
  
            “But efficient. You know Eri wanted to shred Miaka. If we don’t give her a crack at the next female who breaks Yukio’s heart, she’ll just take matters into her own hands. If we tell her to stop short of killing the girl, at least she has some chance of survival.”  
  
            “That makes an awful kind of twisted sense.”  
  
            He shrugged. “Just trying to reduce the bloodshed. I liked her grandfather. I’d hate to see anything happen to her that wouldn’t heal… eventually.”  
  
            She snorted. “There’s that ruthless protective streak of yours.”  
  
            “When you or my pups are involved? Hell yeah.”  
  
            “I suppose I shouldn’t talk. I’d kill to protect those I love.”  
  
            “You have.”  
  
            She sighed and nodded sadly. “I know.”  
  
            He nuzzled her and kissed her cheek. “But I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that this time. Just let it be and see where it goes. He’ll either give her a try or not.”  
  
            He saw her nod reluctantly. “Okay. You’re right.”  
  
            “Feh. I know I’m right, wench. Now kiss me or I’ll think I’ve lost my touch.”  
  
            She giggled and complied. “I love you.”  
  
            He smiled and pulled her close. “I love you.” :Mate.:  
  
  
  
********  
  
             
  
            Sounds from the bedroom woke him and he opened his eyes to see Lori and Billy coming out of their respective rooms right before dawn. He sat up from his makeshift bed on the couch and watched them, but they merely nodded at him without speaking as they exited out the patio door of the condo. He could see them through the glass, facing East as the sun came up, and he was mentally scratching his head when Emma’s soft voice interrupted his ponderings.  
  
            “They’re performing the Dawn Way,” she explained. “It’s a ritual to welcome the sunrise.”  
  
            “Do they do this every morning?”  
  
            She nodded. “Usually, although today is the first morning we’ve had a room that faces East. They had been doing it in the room, but it’s nice for them to be able to actually face the sunrise. If they were home, they would have come out of their hogans and greeted the sun properly, but when they are traveling they make do the best they can.”  
  
            From his spot in his lap the pup started fussing to be fed, and Yukio had to smile.  
  
            “And this one begins his own Dawn ceremony to welcome his morning feeding,” he joked, making Emma snicker.  
  
            “You have such a wry sense of humor.”  
  
            He shrugged and kicked off the blankets as he stood. “Blame my father,” he replied, carrying the pup to the kitchen for feeding.  
  
            “Were you able to get more sleep after our late night snack?” he asked casually, mixing the formula and filling the bottle.  
  
            She leaned against the counter and placed both hands on the smooth surface. “Oh yes. I slept pretty well after. That sandwich was really good.”  
  
            He nodded in agreement as he held the bottle up for the pup to feed. “Yeah. Mine was too. They have good service here.”  
  
            “My guess is that your uncle would accept nothing less.”  
  
            He raised an eyebrow. “You’d be right.”  
  
            She shrugged. “I know a few people like that.”  
  
            “Heh. My sister Eri is one of them. Perfectionist to the max. She and Uncle get along swimmingly as they say.”  
  
            Emma smiled. “Ah. I see. And what does she do?”  
  
            “She’s a fashion designer. A good one too. My mother has a few of her dresses.”  
  
            “Wow. That sounds really neat. Where does she live?”  
  
            He shrugged. “Anywhere really. She tends to go where the fashion shows are. When it’s not The Season, she tends to haunt Paris or Milan. She prefers warmer climates.”  
  
            The Cree woman nodded. “And she is a hanyou as well?”  
  
            He shook his head. “No. She is my parents’ only full-blooded youkai pup. She’s a neko-youkai, a cat. Her parents were killed when she was a little kitten and the people who killed them brought her to us. Seems they didn’t mind slaughtering the adults but they balked at murdering a pup.”  
  
            He saw her frown with disapproval. “How very nice of them.”  
  
            “Yeah, wasn’t it? Anyway, she’s a spitfire but she gets things done. We depend on her to plan all of our gatherings and parties.”  
  
            Emma laughed. “I’ll bet she’s good at that.”  
  
            “You have no idea. She planned my parents’ four hundredth wedding anniversary and… wow it was a party. Folks are still talking about it.”  
  
            The look on Emma’s face revealed that he’d made a mistake and he realized what he’d just said. He’d been so intent on the pup and the small talk that he’d forgotten that he was talking to a simple human who knew nothing of youkai lives or ways.  
  
            ‘ _Shit_ ,’ he gulped and waited for the fallout.  
  
            “Four hundredth wedding anniversary?” she gasped. “Your parents are four hundred years old??”  
  
            “Ahhh… a little older than that actually. That anniversary was sixty years ago.”  
  
            He was glad she wasn’t drinking anything because she probably would have spit it all over the counter, but it suddenly dawned on him that her shock might actually work to his advantage. He’d wanted to discourage her from pursuing him and, perhaps now that she knew how old hanyous and youkai could get, she would give up on him and seek a saner life with someone else. He saw her forming a question, and trying to decide the best way to ask it, and he had an inkling as to what she was going to say so he wasn’t surprised when she actually spoke.  
  
            “And how old are you?”  
  
            _‘Old enough to be your great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather.’_ “I was born in 1547.”  
  
            “15… Oh my god,” she answered, and he saw her grip the edge of the counter.  
  
            He shrugged. “My uncle is older by a good two centuries, maybe more. To be honest, I don’t really know how old he is.”  
  
            “I… I think I need to sit down,” she admitted, grabbing one of the stools from the counter and slumping into it. “I… I had no idea.”  
  
            The pup had finished eating so he draped him across his shoulder to be burped. He needed changed too.  
  
            “Well, it’s not like we advertise it. We don’t go around with ‘Warning: Older Than Dirt’ tattooed on our foreheads. Although a few of us have it tattooed on the back of our necks,” he joked, tossing in a Monty Python reference. It earned him a little smile, although it was shaky.  
  
            “No. I guess you wouldn’t. May I say that you look remarkably good for your age?”  
  
            He smiled. “I’m told that I don’t look a day over three hundred.”  
  
            She smiled back, but it was nervous. “How long will you live?”  
  
            “To be honest, I don’t really know. Mine is the first generation to really make it out of puberty. Prior to the 1700’s, hanyous were killed as a matter of course. No one really knows how old we can get. I do age, so I know I’m mortal. Right now the estimates are that mammalian hanyous like me can probably live between a thousand and fifteen hundred years. But that’s just a guess. I could live to be two thousand or I could die before I reach 900. We don’t know,” he replied, shrugging. “My brother Tetsu is a dragon-hanyou. Dragons are about as immortal as you can get. Tetsu’s dragon aunt guesses that he could live to be ten thousand, maybe even twenty thousand, years old. There is some precedence for the dragon-hanyous. There was one who was six thousand before he was killed.”  
  
            She shook her head. “I cannot imagine living that long.”  
  
            He looked down at the pup in his arms. Who knew how long a coyote-hanyou could live. “It isn’t easy. The world changes almost faster than we can keep up. It’s a real struggle sometimes, but some things make it worth it; like a mate and a family. My parents’ pups are what’s kept them going all this time.”  
  
            “Your mother said she was human. How has she been able to live so long and look so young?”  
  
            “My parents are a unique case. They stopped aging 460 years ago because of a magic spell.”  
  
            “A magic spell?”  
  
            “It was more of a wish actually, that had unexpected consequences. It’s a long story.”  
  
            She might have pressed for more information, but Billy and Lori came in from the patio and interrupted them.  
  
            “Good morning,” Lori greeted as she came over to them.  
  
            “Good morning,” he answered. “Would you like me to make some coffee?” he asked, indicating the complementary bag of coffee next to the coffee maker.  
  
            “That would be very nice, thank you,” Lori replied.  
  
            “Here. Take him and I’ll get the pot going,” he offered, handing the Navajo woman the pup.  
  
            “Thank you,” she said, cradling the pup against her chest.  
  
            “It’s not a problem,” he assured her as he filled the carafe with water and set up the coffee maker with the filter and coffee grounds.  
  
            “We’re leaving early, yes?” she asked.  
  
            “Yeah. Shortly after breakfast. The sooner we get on the road, the sooner we’ll get to Kayenta. Just as soon as I’m finished starting the coffee, I’ll go check on my parents.”  
  
            “Don’t bother,” his father’s voice interrupted. “We’re awake.”  
  
            He looked over to see Inuyasha standing a few feet away, fully dressed in a dark red button-up shirt and a pair of black pants. It struck him as odd that his father wouldn’t be wearing his usual jeans and t-shirt, then he realized that Inuyasha was dressing the way he would if he was going to a ‘power lunch.’ The message was subtle but quietly commanded attention and made people look to him as an authority figure.  
  
_‘Of course. We’re headed into the Navajo Nation today and he wants to make a lasting first impression.’_ He didn’t bother reminding his father that he made a memorable impression no matter what he wore.  
  
            “Good morning, Inuyasha,” Lori said, averting her eyes in respect.  
  
            His father grunted in reply and looked to him. “Oi. Coffee ready yet?”  
  
            He glanced at the coffee maker. “Almost.”  
  
            “Good. Your mother’s in the shower. She’ll be out in a few. Where’s David?”  
  
            “He was getting up just as I was leaving the room. He’ll be out shortly,” Billy answered.  
  
            Inuyasha nodded. “Good. We’ll leave as soon as we get packed up. Hotel is offering us a complimentary breakfast in the dining room if we want it.”  
  
_‘Ah the perks of knowing the owner.’  
  
_             “That would be very nice. I know we will be traveling a long way today,” Lori agreed.  
  
            “Yeah. I wanna be on the road by eight.”  
  
            Yukio surreptitiously looked at the clock and saw that it was just after 6:30am. _‘Hmmm, hour and a half. Not that much time, especially if we are going to eat breakfast. I don’t have time for a shower. I’ll have to take one when we get to the hotel tonight.’  
  
_             “Oi, pup needs changed,” his father announced.  
  
            “Ah. I’ll take care of it,” Lori offered.  
  
            He cringed inwardly, feeling sheepish. _‘Damn. I forgot about that.’_  
  
            The coffee was ready so he poured cups for himself and the others. It was a rich Kona blend, but then that was to be expected considering the caliber of the hotel and the class of the suite they were in. His mother came out of the bedroom just as he was finishing his cup, so he went in to change his clothes and pack up his stuff for the trip. Afterwards they loaded the cars, headed to the dining room for breakfast, and they were on the road by 8:30.  
  
            The trip down through Utah was long but beautiful. The route took them across Fishlake National Forest, down past Canyonlands National Park and into Monument Valley. Much of it was on secondary roads that wound their way through the rugged landscape, and numerous campers slowly lumbered along the route with them- much to his father’s irritation when they were stuck behind one.  
  
            They passed the Navajo Twin Rocks about thirty kilometers north of the Arizona border and entered the Navajo Reservation via Mexican Hat in Utah. Yukio really noticed a difference in how the land felt the moment they crossed the border, as if they had passed through an invisible barrier that marked where White men’s land ended and Indian Territory began. His mother noticed it too because she stopped speaking for a moment during the soft conversation she was having with Lori in the backseat. His father just made his usual ‘hrmph’ sound but that told him that he was also aware of the change.  
  
            They were 20km outside of Kayenta when Lori suddenly gasped and fear spiked in her scent.  
  
            “Stop the car!” she cried.  
  
            “What the?” his father said, but slammed on the brakes just in case.  
  
            “Lori, what’s the matter?” his mother asked as they came to an abrupt halt.  
  
            “That,” the Navajo answered, and tilted her head towards a small yellow-brown animal just ahead of them.  
  
            _‘Is that what I think it is?’_ he thought, feeling a little shiver run up his spine.  
  
            “Coyote,” Lori breathed.  
  
            The coyote was just sitting there on the shoulder about ten meters away, then it got up, trotted into the road and sat right in the middle of it, facing them. He heard car doors opening and closing behind them, and turned to see that David, Billy, Emma and Michael had exited the minivan. Lori got out too and hurried to meet them.  
  
            “What the hell is going on?” Inuyasha complained.  
  
            “I’m not sure,” Kagome answered, then opened her car door and got out.  
  
            “Oh what the hell,” his father sighed, and stepped into the road.  
  
            He followed suit, doubling back to pick up the pup from his car seat because the infant had started to fuss. Emma met his questioning gaze but silently replied with a small shake of her head.  
  
_‘So she doesn’t know what’s going on either.’  
  
_             “What is it?” he heard his mother ask.  
  
            “Coyote has cursed the road. We cannot cross its path,” Billy explained, eyeing the coyote- who had still not moved- warily.  
  
            “What do we do?” Kagome questioned.  
  
            “We don’t have a rifle,” Michael commented.  
  
            “I have cedar in my pack but we can’t go anywhere until coyote yields the road,” Lori added.  
  
            “So we just stand here waiting to get run over,” Inuyasha snorted.  
  
            “If we cross Coyote’s path we’ll be cursed,” Lori said patiently.  
  
            His father rolled his eyes. “Cursed, huh? I’ll take care of this.” :Mate stay. Beta-male with me. Bring pup,: he ordered in inu-youkai and turned to face the coyote.  
  
            Yukio dutifully followed and stood at his father’s shoulder as they walked up the road to where the coyote sat waiting, its tongue lolling out of its mouth.  
  
            “I don’t like the feel of this place,” his father murmured quietly.  
  
            He nodded. “There are youkai here. I can smell them.”  
  
            “The scent is old, but something’s passed through here within the last few days.”  
  
            “It’s not coyote,” he commented, scenting the air again.  
  
            “No. It’s not.”  
  
            They stood, shoulder to shoulder, facing the coyote. The animal met their gazes with unflinching yellow eyes, but there was nothing strange about the coyote’s scent.  
  
            “There’s no youki. This is just an animal,” he said.  
  
            “He’s a messenger,” his father replied, never taking his eyes off the coyote. “Show him the pup.”  
  
            He nodded and turned the pup in his arms to face the coyote. The animal stopped panting and immediately focused its eyes on the child. The pup blinked and made a soft burbling sound. The coyote yipped then barked twice in a high voice. It unnerved him because he didn’t really get the translation.  
  
            :Lesser-male yield the path,: he heard his father order.  
  
            The coyote didn’t answer, but it did stand up. Then it shook itself off and walked nonchalantly off the blacktop. His father gave a nod and a grunt of approval before turning around and making his way back to the Jeep where the others were waiting for them.  
  
            “Okay, let’s go,” Inuyasha said, opening the driver’s-side door.  
  
            “We can’t. We have to break Coyote’s curse first,” Billy replied.  
  
            “And how do we do that?” his father asked irritably.  
  
            “Normally we’d shoot the coyote, but since we don’t have a rifle we either need to cleanse the path where the coyote walked or wait for another vehicle to come along and cross the trail ahead of us,” Michael explained.  
  
            “I’ll get the cedar from my pack,” Lori offered.  
  
            “Keh. Whatever,” Inuyasha groused.  
  
            The Navajo woman was reaching into the back of the Jeep when they heard a loud horn blaring. Yukio snapped his head up and reached for Kenshuga, noting in his peripheral vision that his father was doing the same for Tessaiga, but it was only a camper coming down the road. It crossed into the other lane and lumbered past, coming to a gradual halt but not before it had ‘broken’ the imaginary line made by the coyote.  
  
            “Hey, you guys okay?” the driver called from out of the window. He was a White man and looked like the textbook American tourist complete with sunglasses and a visor cap.  
  
            Michael raised a hand and waved, a tense smile on his face. “Yeah! We’re fine. Thanks though!”  
  
            “You sure? You’re parked in the middle of the road.”  
  
            “Yeah. We had some trouble, but it’s fixed now,” Michael assured the man.  
  
            “Okay then. Bye.”  
  
            They waited as the camper slowly began pulling away before turning to each other. Emma caught his eye and gave him a little smile along with a shrug. He smiled back and sent her a look that said, ‘Yeah I know, but are you gonna do?’  
  
            “We can go now,” Billy announced.  
  
            “Wait. You said that anyone who crossed Coyote’s path would be cursed,” his mother commented shrewdly.  
  
            “Yes, but it’s been broken now so it’s safe,” Billy answered.  
  
            “Does that mean the curse has been transferred to that man in the camper?” she pressed.  
  
            The Navajo man shrugged. “He was _Belagana_. He won’t notice. He’ll just think he has bad luck.”  
  
            His mother frowned and he knew immediately what she was planning to do. He smiled to himself as he saw her set her jaw and march to the rear of the Jeep. She opened the tailgate and moved the luggage aside to get to the storage compartment under the floor so she could pull out the bow and arrows she kept in each of their vehicles. She set the arrow, aimed and fired at the back of the camper.  
  
            “Ike!” she shouted and the purifying bolt streaked through the air to lodge soundly in the spare tire fastened to the rear of the camper. “There. No more curse.”  
  
            “And no more spare tire either,” Inuyasha pointed out.  
  
            Kagome huffed and returned the bow to its hiding place. “May it be the only bad luck he suffers on this trip.”  
  
            “Feh,” his father answered, but Yukio saw the twinkle of pride in his eyes. “Let’s go.”  
  
            Snickering and shaking his head, he handed the pup to his mother so she could put him back in the car seat and got into the Jeep. A moment later, he heard car doors slam behind them and knew the rest of the Natives had gotten back into the minivan. His father didn’t bother to make sure they were ready before turning on the engine and putting the Jeep into gear. As they passed the spot where the coyote had crossed, he looked out the window to see if the messenger was still there, but the animal had disappeared.  
  
            Half an hour later they rolled into Kayenta and checked into the Holiday Inn just after 5pm local time. It was a nice little place with a Southwestern adobe façade done in concrete and ochre colored plaster. They had one of the hotel’s suites with a connecting adjacent room, making it a two-bedroom suite with a pull-out sofa. They were a bed short, but Yukio offered Billy the cushions from the couch because the Navajo didn’t mind sleeping on the floor. In the morning Michael would lead them to his grandmother’s hogan approximately two hours away where they would meet with the pup’s mother and decide what would be done.  
  
            Dinner was eaten at a local Mexican restaurant which was an adventure because neither he nor his father had much tolerance for spicy foods. So while everyone else was heartily digging into their chimichangas and burritos, he and his father were busy picking the chili peppers out of the fajitas they’d ordered, much to the amusement of the locals and staff. These people were practically fed chilies with their mothers’ milk, and the bright red and green peppers were considered a staple. Gringos’ sensitive stomachs were enough to make them shake their heads and chuckle.  
  
            Afterwards, they returned to the Holiday Inn where his father immediately went into the bedroom and closed the door, and the Natives went into their room to prepare for bed. Emma was oddly distant and quiet during dinner, and seemed preoccupied. He attributed her somber mood to their earlier conversation in the suite, and the thoughts that must have been running through her head during the nine hour trip down. It wasn’t every day the average human met someone who was over four centuries old, and he had no doubts that she was probably thinking about the ramifications of getting involved with someone that long-lived. At least he hoped so.  
  
            He, on the other hand, was suffering from indigestion so he wasn’t thinking about much else outside of Tumbs EX. He stretched himself out on the couch and tried to find a comfortable position while his mother went in search of an open drugstore.  
  
            Yukio burped again and groaned miserably. “Damn, I should have ordered the quesadilla,” he complained, rubbing his rebelling stomach.  
  
            “I doubt that would have been much better,” his mother told him softly, handing him a couple of antacids and a glass of milk. “Here. These should help.”  
  
            He reached up from his reclining position on the couch and accepted the medicine gratefully. “Thanks. I’m glad you found a place that was open past five.”  
  
            Kagome nodded and sat down next to him as he downed the pills and milk.  
  
            “How’s Otou-san?”  
  
            “About the same as you, he’s just louder about it,” she answered with a small smile and a shrug. “He’s lying down now.”  
  
            “Where’s the pup?”  
  
            “Lori has him.”  
  
            There was a sad wistfulness in her voice and he perked his ears up, momentarily forgetting his discomfort.  
  
            “Okaa-san? Are you alright?”  
  
            “I called home. I talked to Tetsu and Ian. Everything is fine there. Ian misses us.”  
  
            He nodded, lowering his ears. “I miss him too.”  
  
            “I told him we’d be home in a couple of days,” she added, looking at her hands. “I’ll be glad when all of this is over.”  
  
            “Me too. Do you think the pup and his mother will come back with us?”  
  
            “I don’t know. The Navajo are certainly very frightened of Coyote. I don’t think either the baby or his mother are safe living on the reservation. Even if the people living around her could be convinced that the baby is harmless, there would still be a lot of others who think differently. They would be in constant danger. Without the protection of the baby’s father…” She trailed off but he understood her meaning perfectly.  
  
            “You know Otou-san will never let anything happen to the pup or his mother.”  
  
            She nodded. “I know. But there’s something not right here.”  
  
            “Both Otou-san and I sensed youki when we crossed the border.”  
  
            “Yes, but there are other powers at work here, sacred powers, but their protections are weakening. There are those who would take advantage of the opportunity.”  
  
            He sat up, concerned by what his mother had just told him. “Do you think we should let Uncle know? I’m sure he could arrange for someone to come.”  
  
            “I don’t know if that would help. This is not Japan and the magic is different here. It would have to be someone who knew how to work with this energy.”  
  
            “It’s our fault,” Lori’s voice interrupted and they turned to see the Navajo woman standing behind them. She was holding the pup, but he’d been changed into a fresh onesie for bed.  
  
            “My people have lost their way,” she continued, handing the pup to Kagome. “The _Belagana_ world with its bright lights and modern conveniences lures them away from our traditional path. Many of our young people are seduced by _Belagana_ pretty words and empty promises. Life on the reservation is hard and poor. Many of them hope for better things beyond our borders, but most will never rise above the color of their skin.” She sighed and looked out the picture window in the suite to the sparse view of streetlamps and storefronts.  
  
            “Our way is fading, and so the Blessings fade as well. Even now many of our Medicine People know only a fraction of the ancient ceremonies, and some Sings have been lost almost completely. I know of two _hataalii_ who desperately need apprentices in order to pass on their knowledge before they die, but those who are willing to make the time and sacrifices to walk the Dineh path are fewer and fewer. Our youth turn their backs on us and walk the _Belagana_ way of disharmony and ignorance. We are the instruments of our own destruction.”  
  
            Yukio felt a twinge in his heart. He knew all too well what Lori was talking about. All over the world, humanity was steadily contributing to its own demise by living too fast, too wasteful and too arrogantly for the earth to sustain them. The result was massive disease, disasters and birth defects. Many of the gentle Earth youkai who had been so instrumental in preserving the natural world had perished and only a handful were left. Other youkai who used their powers to maintain the balance also found their numbers dwindling in the face of pollution and loss of habitat.  
  
            The carrion-eaters, however, were increasing in population. Youkai who fed on death, pain and fear were experiencing booms in the number of births because their food sources were so plentiful. There were even places where carrion-eaters disguised as humans had infiltrated governments and assumed high-ranking positions of power, where they used their influence to spread discontent and terror to further their own ends. He and his clan fought hard against the rise of the carrion-eaters but sometimes he wondered of it wasn’t a losing battle, especially since the humans seemed so willing to contribute to their own deaths.  
  
            “It doesn’t have to be that way. I am sure someone could be found who wants to learn, if your _hataalii_ would be willing to teach someone who was not Navajo,” his mother offered.  
  
            “That, too, leads to our destruction. Many of them would not be willing to teach someone who was not of the People. They would not want our sacred ways to fall into _Belagana_ hands,” Lori answered.  
  
            “But if Navajos aren’t interested in learning, what choice do you have? You risk losing the knowledge forever if you don’t do something. I know of at least one Earth youkai who would love to learn your ways. They are good and gentle beings who live for many centuries. They could help you preserve your history and your sacred paths,” Kagome argued.  
  
            Lori closed her eyes and bowed her head. “I know. Just look what turning our backs on our Ways has brought us,” she whispered, motioning to the pup in Kagome’s arms. “Coyote disguised himself as a human and walked among us. He mated with one of our young girls and none of us were the wiser until it was too late. If not for fear of terrible retribution from Coyote, I probably would have let the girl’s father kill the baby. Her grandmother must have very strong faith to have stayed his hand. Even now I am not convinced we are doing the right thing. To make the wrong choice could mean disaster for my people.”  
  
            He heard his mother gasp and saw her clutch the pup closer to her chest. He sat up a little straighter and shifted to a more defensive position, just in case.  
  
            “Don’t blame an innocent baby for being born,” Kagome countered, her voice full of worry and hurt. “It’s not his fault and he didn’t ask to be here. He should not have to pay for the mistakes of his parents with his life.”  
  
            Lori looked at her with a mixture of sorrow and pity, and he didn’t like the look at all.  
  
            “You don’t understand. Coyote waits. And Coyote is always hungry.”  
  
            His mother’s face grew cold and she stood up, holding the pup close to her. “I’m going to bed now. I’ll see you in the morning.”  
  
            As always, the Navajo woman refused to look Kagome in the eye, but she did nod that she understood and remained silent as Kagome carried the pup into the suite’s bedroom and closed the door.  
  
            “I will retire as well,” she said.  
  
            He nodded. “I’ll give you the cushions for Billy,” he replied, standing up and pulling the two firm pillows out.  
  
            “Thank you, although I am sure he is already asleep. He is well used to sleeping on the floor and the carpet in this room serves as fine cushioning,” she said, accepting the cushions.  
  
            “Take them anyway.”  
  
            She nodded. “Thank you. Good night.”  
  
            “Good night.”  
  
            Without another word, she turned and disappeared into the other room, closing the door behind her. After she was gone, he pulled out the folding bed and sat on the edge of it, staring out the window. Lori’s words disturbed him, especially because if there hadn’t been people like his mother and father who were dedicated to saving hanyou babies, neither he nor any of his siblings would ever have made it out of diapers. He understood the Native woman’s concerns, but nothing could condone the murder of an innocent, helpless pup no matter who its father was.  
  
            ‘ _Coyote waits and Coyote’s always hungry._ ’ “Keh,” he snorted and let himself fall backwards to the thin mattress.  
  
            Outside in the darkness the distinctive cry of a coyote howled mournfully in the night.  



	7. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Navajo words:  
> Ya-tah-hey - Hello  
> Belagana - white man  
> Hataalii - medicine man  
> Ma’sani’ - maternal grandmother

Chapter Six  
  
            Morning came too soon and Yukio blinked, bleary-eyed at the ray of sunlight that had so perfectly found his face. He stretched with a groan and sat up, only to find his parents and their native companions watching him. It was then that he noticed his father was holding Tessaiga and using the blade to reflect the sunlight onto the sofa bed, right where his face had just been. He growled and flattened his ears.  
  
            :Leader-male cruel,: he whined.  
  
            :Beta-male lazy,: his father replied with a wry smile.  
  
            “Beta-male had indigestion all night,” he said, standing up and shaking off the sleep.  
  
            His father shrugged. “So did I. Your point? You’re up now, get ready. We’re leaving in ten minutes.”  
  
            “Twenty. I have to take a shower,” he argued.  
  
            “Fifteen.”  
  
            He sighed. “Okay.”  
  
            He fished a clean set of clothes from his bag and made his way to the bathroom. The shower was lukewarm but he didn’t bother with trying to adjust it and just washed as fast as he could. The water woke him up and by the time he was finished, he felt himself again. He got out, dried off, dressed and made sure his ring was on before exiting the bathroom to join the rest of the group.  
  
            “Okay. I’m ready,” he announced.  
  
            “Keh,” his father snorted and led the way to the parking lot.  
  
            “Are you ready for this?” his mother asked, coming to walk beside him.  
  
            She was holding the pup, who seemed much more subdued than usual.  
  
            “As ready as I’ll ever be.”  
  
            “There was something scanning our hotel last night. I had to put up a barrier,” she told him.  
  
            His ears perked up at that and he stared at her. “Was it dangerous?”  
  
            “I don’t think so. It wasn’t malicious but it definitely wanted something.”  
  
            He looked pointedly at the pup in his mother’s arms. “Well, we have a pretty good idea as to what that is.”  
  
            “Maybe,” she replied. “But if it was, I’m not sure I want to hand the pup over.”  
  
            “Why?”  
  
            “Because whatever scanned the hotel last night was anything but friendly, and it certainly didn’t feel like a parent missing a child.”  
  
            “Hmm. What does Otou-san say?”  
  
            She shook her head lightly. “He didn’t like it, but it wouldn’t answer him.”  
  
            “Hmmm.”  
  
            They went down to the lobby and ate a quiet breakfast. The atmosphere around their small group was subdued and even tense. He knew from scent alone that Lori and Billy were growing increasingly uneasy, and he had no doubt that they were looking forward to being rid of them. Michael was understandably worried about his sister and grandmother, and Emma and David seemed caught in the middle. The Cree woman was still keeping her distance and avoiding eye contact, and he wondered if she was having second thoughts about coming with them on this trip. He didn’t put too much effort into thinking about it, however, because it was too early and he hadn’t had his morning coffee. By the time the caffeine buzz had set in and he was awake enough to handle his conflicting emotions, his father was ushering him out the door to the parking lot.  
  
            For the first time his father wasn’t leading the way as they turned onto the road behind the minivan. He knew that Inuyasha didn’t like giving up the lead, but in this case he had no choice because he didn’t know the way through the Navajo Nation. As it was, as soon as they left the main highways, the road became little more than a dirt track. If someone didn’t know where they were going, they could easily get lost for days, or even weeks.  
  
            Some three hours after they had left the hotel, their guides pulled into a nondescript trading post. It was a small place, obviously meant for the locals and not for any tourists who might stumble upon it, and both Lori and Billy seemed familiar with the proprietors. It was here that two of their party bid their good-byes. Billy’s beat-up truck was parked in what served as the trading post’s parking lot as was Michael’s late-model Jeep. While the rest of them waited, the Navajos returned the borrowed minivan’s keys to its owner.  
  
            “And here we must part ways,” Lori said quietly.  
  
            “Yes. We have done as we promised and brought you to our lands. From here Michael will take you to his grandmother’s home,” Billy added.  
  
            Yukio could smell the relief on them, as if they were pleased that the journey had ended and their part in the whole thing was over. His mother, always gracious and polite, smiled at them and bowed.  
  
            “Thank you so much for all of your help,” she said.  
  
            The two Navajo bowed back and lowered their eyes.  
  
            “We wish you good luck,” Lori offered, then she and Billy walked to Billy’s truck, got in and drove off.  
  
            Once they were gone and all that was left were Michael, the two Cree, the hanyou pup, and his family, he saw his parents visibly relax. His mother pulled the pup close to her chest and held him protectively, but her eyes were calm.  
  
            “You’re glad they’re gone,” he commented in Japanese.  
  
            She nodded. “Hai. They didn’t like this pup much and I was very worried for him.”  
  
            “You know Otou-san wouldn’t have let them harm a hair on his head.”  
  
            “I know, but the baby knew they didn’t like him, and it isn’t as if he can’t sense what they are feeling. They weren’t much different from the people who would kill hanyous just because they existed. I never understood that. The babies didn’t ask to be born and most of them were kind and good. Countless babies were murdered before they even drew breath. It was horrible.”  
  
            He saw her tremble and hug the pup even closer, her nose pressed to his little grey ear. His father placed himself at her shoulder, offering his silent strength and comfort, and they waited for her to relax.  
  
            “I’m sorry,” she apologized, wiping away a tear.  
  
            They said nothing and his father nodded.  
  
            “Let’s get this pup to his mother. Then we can get to the bottom of this,” his father said gruffly.  
  
            They turned to Michael who was waiting by his Jeep with Emma and David.  
  
            “How far is it from here?” his father asked.  
  
            “My grandmother’s hogan is another hour away,” Michael replied.  
  
            “Let’s go then. We’ll follow you,” Inuyasha answered.  
  
            Michael nodded and opened his car door. David got into the front passenger side, but for a moment Yukio wasn’t sure which vehicle Emma was going to go in. He saw the indecision on her face then she frowned slightly and got behind her cousin in the rear passenger side of the Jeep.  
  
            He was almost relieved when she decided to go with them because he didn’t want to be distracted by her scent. His instincts were already triggered because of the odd energy of the place, and he knew that he was getting territorial around her despite his own misgivings. It would be easier for him to focus if he wasn’t constantly smelling her and he knew that would make his father less edgy.  
  
            “You coming?” his father’s voice asked, half-amused half-impatient, and he realized that he was the only one who hadn’t gotten into a vehicle.  
  
            Shaking off his preoccupation, he quickly got into the Jeep and sat in the passenger seat next to his father while his mother sat in the rear next to the pup in his car seat. A few moments later they watched as Michael pulled out of the trading post parking lot and headed down the narrow road. His father put their Jeep in gear and followed.  
  
            They were quiet as they traveled, each in their own thoughts. Even the pup was almost silent in his carrier. He stretched his awareness out to search for the source of the youki he had been feeling but it seemed to be everywhere and nowhere all at once. He also caught a faint sense of what his mother had been talking about: the sacred powers that were weakening.  
  
            “There’s nothing we can do about them,” his mother’s voice spoke softly.  
  
            He jolted and turned his head to look at her. She was gazing out the Jeep window, her face sad and wistful. One hand was placed on the edge of the pup’s car seat as if she was afraid to lose physical contact with him.  
  
            “Okaa-san?” he replied.  
  
            “The sacred protections. They’re fading and there is nothing we can do.”  
  
            “How did you know I was thinking about them?”  
  
            She looked at him, her eyes showing every bit of her four hundred years despite her youthful face. He always shivered when she looked like that because it reminded him that she was still a miko who often walked with one foot in each world.  
  
            “I didn’t,” she answered simply. “I was thinking about them myself. They’re like the Blessings placed on the shrine. Without someone there to tend them, they lose their meaning and just… disappear.”  
  
            He nodded, understanding. He’d seen it many times over the centuries: magic slowly fading away because no one believed in it anymore.  
  
            “Is it too late to save them?” he asked.  
  
            “No, but it would take a great many to repair the damage. These wards feel like they were a group effort, probably created and maintained by numerous shamans.”  
  
            “Can you tell what’s moved in?”  
  
            His mother shook her head sadly. “No, but whatever it is, it runs deep.”  
  
            “Keh,” his father grumbled. “The sooner we get to the bottom of this, the sooner we can go home.”  
  
            “Yes,” his mother agreed.  
  
            Led by a series of landmarks only their Navajo guide could see, they traveled even deeper into the reservation until they came upon a small mud and wooden hut that just seemed to appear out of the dust like a mirage. The Jeep ahead of them pulled up in front of it and parked. As Michael, David and Emma got out, his father parked next to them and turned off the vehicle. They got out and his mother placed the pup back into the cradleboard he had originally been in, carrying it in her arms.  
  
            “Ya-tah-hey!” Michael called as he approached the hut. “Ya-tah-hey.”  
  
            The wooden door opened and a young girl ran out. She was no more than sixteen, her long black hair in braids down her back. She went to Michael with a glad cry and threw her arms around him. Coming out behind the girl was an old woman, her hair gray and her skin wizened. She cast a quick glance to Michael and the girl, then her dark eyes moved unerringly to them and she regarded them calmly.  
  
            As they watched, Michael extricated himself from the girl and made introductions. The Navajo was speaking in a language he did not understand and he looked to his mother to see if she had any idea what was being said.  
  
            “I recognize it as Dineh, but I don’t speak any,” his mother replied to his questioning look.  
  
            His father impatiently cleared his throat and the girl saw them for the first time. She spied his mother holding the cradleboard and her face went pale. She approached slowly, almost in disbelief, and his mother stepped forward, her expression understanding and gentle.  
  
            The girl dropped her eyes and sniffed.  
  
            “My baby?” she asked softly.  
  
            “He’s right here. He’s healthy and strong.”  
  
            The girl started to cry and her hands clenched into fists as if she wanted to take the cradleboard but could not. His mother held the cradleboard out to her in offering and the pup inside, smelling his mother’s scent, let out a happy burble then a small cry.  
  
            “Here. Take him. He’s yours,” his mother said gently.            
  
            The girl shook her head and sniffled. “No. I can’t. He’s outcast. My father will kill him. You shouldn’t have brought him back here.”  
  
            “Oi! No one is killing any pups while I am here,” he heard his father state gruffly, commanding the girl’s attention.  
  
            She looked briefly at him then dropped her eyes. “I… I don’t understand. Michael told me he was taking Peter to a new family who could take care of him.”  
  
            “Peter? Is that the baby’s name?” Kagome asked.  
  
            The girl nodded. “Yes. After my grandfather.”  
  
            “That’s a good name. You must be Sara. Your brother has told us a lot about you,” his mother continued.  
  
            “He has?”  
  
            “Yes. He loves you very much, and he is very worried about you and this baby.”  
  
            Sara nodded but did not reply.  
  
            “I’m Kagome and this is my mate, Inuyasha and my oldest son, Yukio. We came all the way from Canada to talk to you. We wanted to make sure that no one forced you into this decision, and to talk about what options you have if you don’t want to give up your baby.”  
  
            Sara looked up again, then looked away. He realized that she was being polite by not making direct eye contact and gave her the same courtesy by slightly turning his head. His father, never one for manners, stepped up and looked her right in the eye.  
  
            “Where is this pup’s father?” Inuyasha demanded.  
  
            Sara shook her head and closed her eyes. “I don’t know.”  
  
            He saw his mother edge his father away a little and nodded in approval. It would do no good for his father to make a scene in the middle of the Navajo reservation.  
  
            “Can you tell us anything about him, Sara? Please, it’s very important.”  
  
            “I haven’t seen Temeh in months,” Sara admitted. “I don’t know where he is.”  
  
            “Temee? The pup’s father’s name is **_Temee_**?” Inuyasha blurted.  
  
            He snickered and his mother smiled.  
  
            “I’m sorry,” Kagome explained. “In our language, temee is a derogatory term.”  
  
            “It is?” Sara asked.  
  
            “Yes. It’s considered very rude.”  
  
            “Oh.”  
  
            “But I am sure in his language Temeh means something much different,” Kagome assured her.  
  
_‘Yeah, coz you wouldn’t want to go around telling everyone your name means bastard,’_ he mused to himself.  
  
            “Yes,” Sara said, her voice faint.  
  
            “This is my grandmother,” Michael interrupted, drawing their attention to the old woman. “Her _Belagana_ name is Ruth.”  
  
            His mother went to her and bowed. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Ruth-obachan.”  
  
            “Ya-tah,” Ruth replied, bowing slightly.  
  
            “My grandmother doesn’t speak English but both my sister and I are fluent in Dineh so we can translate for you,” Michael told them.  
  
            “Thank you. Please tell her that we are sorry to intrude on her home so unexpectedly,” his mother said.  
  
            “I already told her that you are here to talk to Sara about the baby and the baby’s father.”  
  
            Ruth said something to Michael and he nodded in agreement.  
  
            “My grandmother invites you into her hogan. She says you are welcome. She hopes that you can find your answers quickly, before there is more trouble.”  
  
            “More trouble?” Inuyasha asked.  
  
            Michael gave them an unhappy look. “Apparently, my father has been stirring up unrest since we left. He hasn’t done any harm, but now that we are back, with the baby no less, I’m sure he’ll come here.”  
  
            He saw his father’s hand reach for the hilt of Tessaiga.  
  
            “Keh. Let him come. We’ll handle him. We’re not going anywhere until we get to the bottom of this.”  
  
            “Yes. Well, I hope it does not come to that,” Michael answered, ushering them into the hogan.  
  
            Passing through the doorway of the small hut was like stepping back five centuries. Although the walls were logs and mud and not beams and paper, the scent and feel of the hut was the same. Instead of an irori firepit in the center of the octagonal room there was a steel barrel for burning wood, but there were racks of drying herbs and earthen pots stacked neatly against a wall. He looked around the single room home and could almost hear the old miko chuckling as she worked.  
  
_‘Kaede-sama…’  
  
_             Looking at Ruth, he could almost see the old woman, her hair in a braid, her body clothed in the red and white habit of a priestess, clucking over her cooking fire. Tears welled up in his eyes from the memory and he had to swallow the lump in his throat. His mother cast him a glance and the look on her face told him that she was noting the similarities herself.  
  
            The hogan was small but its owner used the space wisely. There were two single beds off to one side and a small wooden table. The stovepipe from the barrel went up to a hole in the center of the roof and the top of the barrel served as a crude cookstove. It was lit with two battery-powered lamps and an oil lantern. There did not appear to be any electricity or running water, but it was cozy and familiar in a way that he could not describe to anyone who had not lived in a time when such modest homes were the norm.  
  
            Since there were only three chairs in the hogan, he and his father opted to stand while his mother sat down with Sara and the old woman. Michael positioned himself to the left of his grandmother’s shoulder and David and Emma stood nearby him. As he watched, his mother lifted the pup out of the cradleboard and once again offered him to his mother. Sara gasped when she saw her son and slowly took him. The pup gave a burbled happily and she smiled at him.  
  
            “What did you do to him? He looks… normal,” the girl asked in amazement.  
  
            The old woman grunted softly, her breath leaving her nostrils just a little too forcefully, and he flicked his eyes over to glance at her.  
  
_‘She can see through the illusion…’  
  
_             “It’s a spell I placed on him to hide his coyote features,” his mother explained. “The spell is linked to his necklace.”  
  
            Sara lifted the braid made from Inuyasha’s hair and examined the black stone. “It’s magic?”  
  
            “It serves as an anchor for the spell. Most demons and those of mixed-demon blood wear something similar to conceal them when they are out among humans. Both my husband and my son are half-demons and they wear concealment spells too.”  
  
            The girl looked up at them, fear racing briefly across her face, then she relaxed and dropped her eyes back to her baby. The pup gurgled and lifted a hand which the girl took in her own gently.  
  
            “Temeh wore a bandana to hide his ears and contact lenses in his eyes,” Sara admitted. “But I think he had a spell to color his hair.”  
  
            “He revealed himself to you then?” his mother prompted.  
  
            The girl nodded reluctantly. “After we’d been seeing each other for a while. He told me what he was.”  
  
            “So you knew he was a coyote demon,” his father said.  
  
            She looked at Inuyasha, the fear flaring back again, but he saw her stamp it down. “Yes, I knew.”  
  
            “Did he ever reveal his true form to you?” his mother asked.  
  
            “What do you mean?”  
  
            “Most full-blooded demons have two forms. The human-like form and the form of their animal ancestor,” Kagome explained.  
  
            Sara shook her head. “I’ve never seen Temeh as anything other than the boy I knew.”  
  
            “Did he know you were pregnant?”  
  
            “Oh yes. He knew. He would bring me vitamins and food, in the beginning, but… but then he stopped and I didn’t see him again.”  
  
            “Do you know why he stopped coming?”  
  
            Tears welled in Sara’s eyes as she shook her head again. “No… I don’t know where he is. I don’t know what happened. He said we were going to go off together. He said he would come for me and the baby…”  
  
            Michael gasped when they heard this and the shock registered on his face.  
  
            “Sara…”  
  
            Sara glanced at her brother. “He said he loved me. He said we would be together.”  
  
            Michael looked at her with pity. “Oh Sara…”  
  
            “Don’t look at me like that,” the girl snapped angrily.  
  
            His mother called Sara’s attention back to her. “Did Temeh ever speak to you about his family? Did you ever meet anyone from his clan?”  
  
            “No. He said his mom and dad were real strict. He said they wouldn’t understand.”  
  
            The girl’s words triggered something and his father’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.  
  
            “Oi. How old is this Temee?”  
  
            Sara blinked at him, confused. “My age, I guess. I never really asked. He looked my age, maybe a year or two older…”  
  
            His father swore and turned his back as he reached his own conclusion as well.  
  
_‘The father is a juvenile. Probably still in his adolescence.’  
  
_             “That might not be the case, Sara. Demons age and mature very slowly. It’s possible that Temeh is very many years older than you,” his mother said carefully.  
  
            “But he still lives with his parents. He has problems with them all the time,” the girl argued.  
  
            “I still live with my parents,” he said, speaking for the first time as he cast a glance towards Emma. “And I’m… very old.”  
  
            Sara hung her head and pulled the pup closer to her body. “I don’t understand.”  
  
            “None of this is really important. What is important is finding out where Temeh is now and why he didn’t come for you,” Kagome stated, redirecting the conversation. “Did he ever give you any idea as to where he lived or how you could contact him?”  
  
            He saw the girl swallow hard as if she knew what she was going to say next would cause an upset.  
  
            “When… when we were supposed to meet or… or if he had a message for me… or if I needed to talk to him… I’d look for the coyote he sent me.”  
  
            Michael gasped again and clenched his fists. “Sara…”  
  
            “It was always the same color… light grey with silver eyes. Whenever I saw it, I knew that Temeh was close or trying to get in touch with me.”  
  
            “Sara! I don’t believe you,” Michael chided. “What?…” The young man stopped and looked at his grandmother with concern.  
  
            “Ma’sani’ already knows,” Sara said. “I told her. She’s been looking for the coyote, but neither of us has seen him. I heard him on the night Peter was born, but there’s been no sign of him since. I’m worried because Sam Chee has been laying out poison near his place.”  
  
            “If the coyote was part of a demon family, he would be smart enough to avoid poisons and traps,” his mother assured her.  
  
            “Sara, if anyone finds out about this, you’ll be branded a witch and killed!” Michael gasped.  
  
            “I’m not a witch. And neither is Temeh.”  
  
            “Sara! The sheep! The hogans burning down…”  
  
            “None of that was Temeh’s doing! He had nothing to do with any of it. He swore to me.”  
  
            “And you believed him? He’s **_coyote!_** ”  
  
            “Temeh wouldn’t lie to me. He said mates don’t lie to each other.”  
  
            “Mates?!” Michael moaned.  
  
            “So he’s claimed you as his, then?” Kagome asked.  
  
            Sara nodded. “Yes. He said we were mates and that he would make a place for us where we would be safe.”  
  
            “This keeps getting weirder and weirder,” he said to his father in Japanese.  
  
            Inuyasha nodded, grunting lowly, and replied in Japanese, “We need to find out what happened to the father, and get to bottom of this youki I keep feeling.”  
  
            He agreed and turned to the girl. “Sara, did Temeh ever mention other demons in the area? You said he swore he had nothing to do with the dead sheep and the burned hogans, but did he know who was responsible?”  
  
            She looked at him and he saw the fear again. “He said he couldn’t tell me. That it was too dangerous. I know he was afraid. He wanted all of us to leave the reservation. Ma’sani’ too,” she answered casting a concerned glance to her grandmother.  
  
            Yukio got the distinct impression that the old woman understood far more of what was being said than she was letting on.  
  
            “How long have the bad things been happening, Sara?” his mother questioned.  
  
            “About eight months. Tom Yazzie’s sheep were found dead in January,” Michael answered.  
  
            “You were already seeing Temeh by then, yes?” Kagome asked Sara.  
  
            “Yes. I’d met him at a pow-wow last fall.”  
  
“Did you notice a change in his behavior after the sheep were found dead?” he questioned.  
  
            Sara shook her head. “Not at first. But after more sheep died and the first hogan burned down, I noticed that he was nervous and on guard when we would get together.”  
  
            He cast a glance to his father and his father frowned.  
  
            “You think he went after this thing?” he asked in Japanese.  
  
            Inuyasha snorted softly. “If there was something threatening **_my_** unborn pup and mate? I would have.”  
  
            “You think it got him? If he was young, he might not have been strong enough.”  
  
            “Coyotes are cowards. He wouldn’t have gone against it alone.”  
  
            “You think he abandoned her then?”  
  
            His father took a long look at the girl and her pup, then shook his head. “No.”  
  
            “What are you going to do now? Are you going to take Peter if I say it’s okay?” Sara asked suddenly.  
  
            “What we do is up to you Sara,” his mother replied. “We are not in the habit of taking other people’s children away from them, but it is obvious that your baby is not safe here. If you don’t want to give up Peter, I am sure we can come to an arrangement where you and the baby will be safe and taken care of.”  
  
            “You’d want me to come with you back to Canada?”  
  
            “That is one option, yes, but there are others too. Right now, I think it is most important to find out what happened to Temeh.”  
  
            “How are you going to do that?” Michael asked.  
  
            “We’re going to go to the last place where your sister met with him and try to see if there are any clues,” he answered, looking expectantly at the girl.  
  
            Sara swallowed and looked down at her pup. “We met at Bill Leaphorn’s winter trailer. He’d moved to his summer hogan so his place was empty. But that was almost four months ago.”  
  
            Inuyasha looked at Michael. “You know where she is talking about?”  
  
            Michael cast a dark look at his sister but nodded. “I do.”  
  
            “Lets go.”  
  
            Michael frowned but agreed.  
  
            “You stay here with them. Keep a close eye out for trouble,” his father told him.  
  
            His mother stood up. “I’m coming too. If we do manage to find him, I may be the better one to talk to him.”  
  
            It looked like his father was going to argue but his mother gave him ‘The Look’ and he gave in. Inuyasha opened the wooden door and stepped out into the late afternoon sunshine. His mother went out after him.  
  
            “We’ll go in my Jeep,” his father said as Michael joined him outside.  
  
            “Wouldn’t it be better to go in mine?” the young man asked.  
  
            He moved to look out the doorway, his eyes scanning the horizon and they landed on a small, furry shape sitting several yards away.  
  
            His mother saw it at the same time he did and said matter-of-factly, “Perhaps it would be better to follow him.”  
  
            “Oi? What are you talking about?” Inuyasha complained.  
  
            “Sara,” he called over his shoulder. “Is this the coyote Temeh would send to you?”  
  
            The girl stood up quickly and carried her pup to the open doorway. She saw the light gray animal and gasped.  
  
            “Yes. Yes, that’s him!”  
  
            He nodded, not entirely surprised. _‘So whoever it is knows we’re here.’  
  
_             The coyote stood and yipped at them. Michael’s face paled while Inuyasha snorted and crossed his arms.  
  
            “You can’t mean to follow that,” Michael argued.  
  
            “He’s obviously here to lead us somewhere,” Kagome countered. “Wouldn’t it be better to do as he asks in order to not waste time?”  
  
            “I know that my people’s superstitions seem silly to you, but a Navajo simply does not follow a coyote anywhere,” Michael stated firmly.  
  
            He saw his mother cross her arms and give the young man a look he knew all too well.  
  
            “And they simply don’t mate with coyote either, or bear their sons,” she responded tersely.  
  
            “You should follow him,” Sara said quietly. “If he is here, then he will lead you to Temeh.”  
  
            “You cannot ask me to do this,” Michael replied.  
  
            Inuyasha shrugged. “Fine. Stay here then.”  
  
            His parents headed for the Jeep, paying no attention at all to Michael and whether or not he was following them. He saw Sara step forward to grip her brother’s arm.  
  
            “Michael, go with them, please. You know the way around the reservation. They don’t. If they get lost, they may never find their way back here.”  
  
            He wanted to tell her that his father could find his way back by scent alone, but he kept silent because he really did think that it was best that Michael go along. Not because he was afraid that his parents would get lost, but because it would be beneficial to have someone who knew the local language and customs in case they ran into anyone along the way.  
  
            “Sara…”  
  
            “Please, Michael. I promise you, Temeh is not what you think he is. He’s good, and I love him. If something’s happened to him, maybe he needs help and the coyote will take you to him.”  
  
            His parents paused at the Jeep, and stood there waiting.  
  
            He saw the emotions play across the young man’s face and knew all too well how Michael was feeling. He remembered the anguish he felt when he had to go against his own instincts while he was married to Miaka. Many times his wife had asked him to do things that were against his very nature, but he had found himself doing them anyway because she was his mate and would have done anything for her.  
  
            Finally, after several long moments, Michael sighed and walked over to where Inuyasha and Kagome were waiting for him. He said nothing as he got into the rear passenger side of the Jeep, and his mother cast the young man a sympathetic look as she got into the seat in front of him.  
  
            “We’ll be back as soon as we can,” his father said. :Beta-male guard den.:  
  
            He nodded, placing his hand on the hilt of his own sword, and watched as his parents got into the Jeep and his father started the engine. The light gray coyote gave him a brief glance, then began to trot away. The Jeep followed it, keeping a safe distance. He watched them go, his eyes on the cloud of dust that was visible long after the vehicle was out of sight.


	8. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Navajo words:  
> Belagana - white man  
> Hataalii - medicine man  
> Ma’sani’ - maternal grandmother
> 
> Author’s note: Uranium mining on the Navajo reservation has a long and sordid history in the US. Numerous incidents of ground water contamination have occurred, causing hundreds of Navajos to become ill and many died. For a long time when nuclear power had fallen out of favor, the uranium mines were forgotten, but now there is renewed interest. In 2005, President Joe Shirley, Jr signed a law forbidding uranium mining on Navajo land. Currently numerous companies and a number of legislators are lobbying to overturn the law. One of those companies is the Japanese owned firm, Itochu, Corp.
> 
> Navajo Uranium Mining resources:  
> http://www.sonic.net/~kerry/uranium.html  
> http://www.sric.org/uranium/index.html  
> http://www.sprol.com/?p=348

Chapter Seven  
  
  
  
            Inuyasha gritted his teeth. So far he had hated pretty much everything about this damn trip. He’d hated having to travel over 2000 kms away from home. He’d hated having to leave his youngest pup behind. He’d hated having to defer to a bunch of humans who had no idea what they were getting them all into. He hated the fact that the pup’s father hadn’t taken proper care of his mate. And most of all he hated the mystery that had surrounded the entire thing.  
  
            As a general rule he didn’t like mysteries. Kagome loved mysteries. She bought hundreds of books and movies, and watched just about every mystery that came on television. She was very good at solving mysteries and was often ten steps ahead of him while he was still scratching his head and wondering if the butler did it. Those types of mysteries were alright if all they did was prove that he had no head for solving puzzles. But it had been his experience that real mysteries, true ones that his family had been embroiled in, often ended with someone he cared about getting hurt or killed.  
  
            Now his eldest was guarding a nursing bitch and her newborn pup, an old woman, and two Cree who had unwittingly gotten themselves tangled up in the whole mess, while he and his mate practically dragged another young man, kicking and screaming, into the deep wilds of Navajo Territory.  
  
Add to all of that a silver-eyed coyote and a boatload of unidentified youki, and he had the combination for a massive headache. At this point he didn’t give a damn about how the young Navajo felt about following a coyote. All he wanted to do was find the pup’s father, kill whatever it was that was hunting the reservation and go home.  
  
            Instead of leading them to anything that looked like it might be somewhere a youkai family would live, however, their four-legged guide took them even further away from civilization, leading them across an arid country almost completely devoid of vegetation.  
  
            They traveled in silence, him keeping one eye on the coyote and another on the fuel gauge. It was still 1/2 full and they had two extra containers of gas in the back, but all the same he didn’t relish the idea of getting stranded, and he hoped that they would get to wherever they were going soon. Finally, about two hours out, but acknowledging that they had been going at the coyote’s pace, their guide took them into an area where the rocks jutted out of the hard earth like towers and the ground sloped downward into a series of gullies. The track became too narrow for the Jeep to pass through so they had no choice but to park and get out.  
  
            “Oi. You ever been here?” he asked the young man.  
  
            The young man looked around, his face pensive and shook his head. “I don’t recognize it, but then we don’t travel out this way much.”  
  
            He nodded and turned to look for the coyote that was waiting for them at the mouth of a narrow trail. It stood, yipped and looked behind it, panting. He took a sniff and frowned when he noticed that the scent of strange youkai was growing stronger.  
  
            “If you want, you can stay with the Jeep,” he told the Navajo. “You can stay with him, Kagome.”  
  
            His mate gave him a look that said ‘the Hell I will’ and he gave in. It was better to have her with him anyway. At least that way he knew where she was.  
  
            “If you’re coming, bring your bow.”  
  
            “Un,” she agreed and moved to pull the weapon from the back of the Jeep.  
  
            “I’m ready,” she told him, seating the quiver of arrows on her back as she slipped the bow over her shoulder. He couldn’t help but smile softly as she hurried to join him. She looked so much like the young girl who had been naïve and strong enough to break his Seal.  
  
            _‘Still beautiful… and still just as fearless. My Kagome. What would I ever do without you?’  
  
_             “Ready?” she asked, her scent tinged with excitement.  
  
            “Keh. Let’s go,” he snorted gruffly to hide his inward pleasure and they began to follow the coyote down the trail.  
  
            The Navajo did stay behind and he was fine with that. The kid had been giving him the same look he’d seen on condemned men being led to the chopping block and the scent of his unhappiness had been distracting. If things were going to go to hell, he didn’t need the added stress of a stupid human panicking and mucking things up further than they already were.  
  
            The track was steep and narrow, the ground hard and rocky. He ended up taking off his shoes to gain better traction on the loose gravel and he urged Kagome to get on his back. The moment her legs settled around his waist, her knees hugging his hips the way she used to do, he was back in the Sengoku Jidai, hunting Naraku with his friends and his mate-to-be. He wanted to cast off his signet ring and take her away to a place where life was simpler and responsibility was something relegated to other people, but the image of his son standing guard over the coyote-hanyou pup stopped him. Life wasn’t simple anymore. It hadn’t been simple for centuries. Life was messy and complicated and full of decisions that he was never sure if he was making the right one. But he was lucky. He had Kagome and his pups. It was a far sight better than a lot of others he knew.  
  
            _‘Stop your pissing and moaning. There’s a job to do and the sooner we do it, the sooner we get to go home,’_ he growled at himself.  
  
            The coyote led them into a gully where the walls were sheer rock and the wind funneled down through the tight space. Kagome’s hands dug into his shoulders and she hid her face behind his head to protect her eyes from the blowing dust. The coyote made a sharp turn and they found themselves at the end of a tight trail that led into the rock face, presumably into a cavern or cave. He took a deep sniff and confirmed that the scent of youkai was coming from the other side.  
  
            “I feel a terrible jyaki coming from that direction,” Kagome whispered.  
  
            “Un,” he agreed and took a step forward. The coyote sat down and watched them.  
  
            “Staying here, are you?” he said.  
  
            The coyote let out a soft whine and he rolled his eyes.  
  
            “Coward.”  
  
            The coyote sneezed and shook its head, but didn’t budge.  
  
            “Fine. Stay here then,” he complained and moved past the coyote to head down the trail.  
  
            The scent of youkai and the feel of jyaki got stronger the further down the track they went. The trail did lead into the rock face and they found themselves at the bottom of a tall cavern. Light filtered in from an opening much higher up to illuminate the high ceiling with its sharp stalactites jutting down like spears.  
  
            They were looking up, their eyes scanning the rough-hewn cave when he stepped on something that crunched. He stopped dead in his tracks and they looked down at the cavern floor. Kagome gasped and choked back a cry as he cursed softly under his breath and reached for Tessaiga.  
  
            The cave was littered with bones. Much of it was the skeletons of animals. He saw dozens of sheep and goat skulls, some cattle, quite a few horses and even a couple of coyotes, but what really drew his ire were the human remains scattered among them. He counted at least six human skeletons and parts of at least four more. He growled, deep and low, in his chest.  
  
            Kagome slipped off his back and covered her nose. She knew that he would need freedom to move if he had to fight. She reached for her bow and had it at the ready, just in case. Over the stench of decay and the feel of jyaki, came the scent of the youkai, but this time it seemed somewhat familiar. He hadn’t smelled one in a long time because he and his brother had killed them almost to the point of extinction, but now that he’d recognized it, the scent was unmistakable.  
  
            “Hyakki koumori,” he whispered to his mate.  
  
            She gasped. “Terror Bats? Here?”  
  
            He grunted and nodded his head, all the while motioning for her to stay behind him. He could almost hear her thinking and he knew she was asking the same questions that he had. What were Terror Bats doing on the Navajo Reservation? How did they get here without anyone knowing about it? And why were they here in the first place? Terror Bats preferred coastal or forested areas because they originated from the Far East. An arid, desert climate would not be a place anyone would normally find them.  
  
            _‘They’re not here by accident,’_ he decided.  
  
            Kagome placed her hand on his shoulder as he picked his way deeper into the cavern. It was still daylight so the bats should be dormant but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t wake up if they were disturbed. They passed through a narrow crevasse into another cave where it was almost completely dark so he knew Kagome would not be able to see. He placed his feet carefully; glad that he had ditched his shoes so he could feel what he was stepping on. There weren’t any bones in this room, but he could smell the guano and the last thing he wanted was to walk in bat shit.  
  
            He stopped and waited for his eyes to adjust, extending his ears and sniffing. The scent was very strong and he could hear the bats shuffling somewhere high above him. He heard Kagome draw her bow and he put out a hand to stop her. They didn’t need the light from her purifying arrow to alert the bats that they were there. A moment or two later, his vision cleared and he was able to see. He looked up and gritted his teeth. There were dozens of them; a whole swarm, perhaps even an entire clan.  
  
            His initial assessment that the bats were not there by accident was nearly certain as the sheer number of them could not be explained by a few outcasts relocating. Kagome gripped his forearm and he could feel her trembling. Just a handful of these youkai could be a challenge; taking on this many was an all out battle. With just him and Kagome, they had no real hope of winning, even with Tessaiga and especially in the cave. If he tried to seal the cavern by causing a cave-in, there was good chance both he and Kagome would be trapped with them. Besides, there was no telling how many entrances there were to the cave. Just sealing one off might be a futile effort and result in the swarm coming after them enforce. As much as he hated to admit it, the smartest thing to do was to withdraw and consider their options.  
  
            Swallowing a growl, he took a step back, slowly pushing them both out of the cave and back into the cavern with the bones. Once they were there, they turned and hurried for the exit. As soon as they were back in the daylight, Kagome took several deep breaths and crouched down with her back to the rock wall.  
  
            “Oi, you okay?” he asked, keeping his voice low.  
  
            She nodded. “Just… the jyaki. It was so strong. There were a lot of them, weren’t there.”  
  
            He huffed. He had suspected that she hadn’t been able to see in the darkness. “Yeah. Looked like a whole clan.”  
  
            He saw her swallow and calm her nerves. “What are they doing here? How did they even get here?”  
  
            He grunted. They were the same questions he had.  
  
            “What do we do?” she asked, looking up at him. “There’s too many for us to fight.”  
  
            He raised his eyes to the sky and took note of the long shadows. “Sunset is coming. It’ll be dark soon. I say we wait until nightfall. When the bats fly out to hunt, we go in and see how many entrances there are. If there’s only the one, we can come back after dawn and seal the bastards in their own cave.”  
  
            Kagome nodded in agreement. “I can make temporary ofudas to keep them from breaking out, but we should call Sesshomaru. He will want input on a more permanent solution.”  
  
            He growled. He hated calling his brother in for things but in this case his mate was right. Getting rid of a swarm of terror bats this large was going to take some help and he knew that if he **_didn’t_** call his brother, Sesshomaru would be put out, and the last thing he needed was the Lord of the West sulking because then he’d get vindictive. Knowing him, Sesshomaru would do something nasty like short stock and severely curtail his family’s assets or put out bad press about the safety of his architectural designs. All things considered, he didn’t need the aggravation not calling Sesshomaru would cause. Still, he felt he had to make even a token protest.  
  
            “Keh. We don’t need that bastard’s help.”  
  
            “He’ll want to know about this. You know he will.”  
  
            “So? We tell him after.”  
  
            “And then have him angry that we didn’t tell him sooner? You know how well that worked out the last time. It took years for you to rebuild your client base in Hong Kong.”  
  
            He pretended to give in with a snort. “Oh all right.”  
  
            “We should get back to Michael and let him know what we’ve found. Maybe he could go back to the hogan and get Yukio.”  
  
            He shook his head. “No. I want him guarding the girl and her pup. We can handle this.”  
  
            “Alright.”  
  
            They walked back down the narrow track through the gully and found the coyote waiting for them. He scowled at the animal and it had the decency to look chagrined.  
  
            “Oi, is your master in there? Did the bats get him?”  
  
            The coyote barked a negative.  
  
            “So you just brought us here to see the bats. You want us to take care of the bastards, don’t you? That’s why you led us here. Why not get rid of them yourself?”  
  
            The coyote responded with what amounted to a canine shrug and he gritted his teeth.  
  
            “Cowards. Your master’s newborn pup is in that hut. You know those bats will scent him out. You know he’s in danger.”  
  
            Now the coyote looked worried and whined softly. :Small pack. Too many,: it replied.  
  
            He sighed.  
  
            “Then why not call for help? You know the carrion eaters are outcast,” Kagome asked.  
  
            The coyote’s silence spoke volumes.  
  
            _‘They did ask for help and none was provided.’_ He growled. _‘Did my brother already know about this? Did he know terror bats had made a Cave in the United States?’  
  
_             “You don’t think Sesshoumaru already knew about this, do you?” his mate asked in Japanese.  
  
            “I don’t know,” he answered.  
  
            Kagome shook her head. “No. Your nephew Shirokan is in Las Vegas. Your brother would never tolerate them so close to his son.”  
  
            He nodded. He’d forgotten about Sesshoumaru’s youngest taking over some failing casinos on the strip. There was no way his brother would allow a clan of terror bats within a thousand miles of his son. In that respect, he and his brother were of like minds: no one threatened, or even hinted at threatening, their family.  
  
            _‘So that means Sesshomaru **doesn’t** know about the bats.’_ He frowned. Sesshomaru knew everything. If the bats got here without his brother knowing that meant that they had help, probably from a very powerful, high-ranking demon.  
  
            “Someone wanted these bats here,” Kagome said, a note of disbelief in her voice. “But why? Why would anyone want to move a clan of terror bats into this area?”  
  
            He shook his head. He had no idea why anyone would want bloodthirsty, ravenous killers living anywhere, but he was certain that he’d be finding out just as soon as the battle was on. If the bats had a patron, it was sure to show itself once he and his brother declared war. _  
  
_             “Don’t know and don’t care. Let’s get back to the Jeep,” he answered gruffly, but his voice betrayed his uncertainty. _‘There must be something here that’s worth risking discovery and an all out massacre. Something that’s worth facing my brother’s wrath.’_  
  
            Kagome nodded and climbed onto his back, pressing herself close as he made his way up the trail. The silver coyote trotted ahead, a happy bounce in its step. His mate hopped down briefly to get his shoes when they passed where he had discarded them. He scowled because he had been hoping that she would forget about them and just leave them where they were, but no such luck. She did not, however, insist that he put the hated things back on which was a relief.  
  
            _‘Five hundred years of progress and technology and they **still** haven’t designed a pair of shoes worth wearing,’_ he complained to himself.  
  
            When they emerged from the gully they found Michael waiting for them by the Jeep. The young Navajo started when the silver coyote came bounding out of the trailhead and moved several paces away. The coyote grinned mischievously and moved to give chase, but Inuyasha stopped it. The last thing they needed right now was for the animal to spook the man even more.  
  
            “Oi!” he barked, then spoke in inuyoukai. :Alpha meet Alpha. Bring Alpha to pup den,: he ordered.  
  
            The coyote paused in its chase and lowered its head. :Pack-male obey.:  
  
            He grunted in approval and watched as the animal turned and headed off in the opposite direction. As soon as the coyote was out of sight, Michael came back to the Jeep.  
  
            “Oi. Is there anything of value on this reservation? Anything someone might want badly enough to kill for?” he asked without preamble.  
  
            “We have many antiquities. Belagana grave robbers are always desecrating our burial grounds,” Michael replied.  
  
            He shook his head. Youkai weren’t interested in stolen grave goods.  
  
            “No. Something bigger.”  
  
            “There are many gold and silver mines.”  
  
            “Anyone can get silver and gold. What do you have that no one else does? What’s on this land that someone might be willing to risk everything for?” _‘What do you have that someone would bring in terror bats for?’  
  
_             The young man looked thoughtful, considering the question carefully.  
  
            “It would be something very valuable. Something that maybe someone wants but can’t get to,” Kagome offered. “Maybe something Whites want that your people won’t let them have.”  
  
            Michael gasped and his eyes opened wide, but then his face darkened and grew still with anger.  
  
            “What? What is it?” he demanded, resisting the urge to grab the man by the shoulders and shake it out of him.  
  
            “Uranium. We have uranium. Belagana businessmen have been trying to force us to let them open new uranium mines, but Chief Shirley has forbidden it. We had many mines in the past and hundreds of people were poisoned by the runoff. There are still wells that are contaminated. For a long time, people forgot about our uranium because of the stigma of radioactive waste, but recently there has been renewed interest, especially in New Mexico.”  
  
_‘Uranium for new nuclear plants and bombs. That would do it all right.’  
  
_             “Why do you ask me such things? What did you find?” the young man questioned boldly.  
  
            “We found a cave of demon bats,” Kagome answered.  
  
            “What?” Michael blurted.  
  
            “They are most likely responsible for the dead sheep and the burned hogans. It also looks like they’ve been feeding on your livestock. There are a few human skeletons in their cave as well,” his mate continued.  
  
            “Oi. These things aren’t native to this area. They’re from Japan. Someone must have moved this clan here. My guess is they’ve been killing anyone who has discovered them,” he said.  
  
            “My people are widespread and solitary. If anyone had gone missing, it might take days, if not months, before someone noticed, especially if the person was reclusive to begin with. Unless there is a family member who checks on them, many lone Navajo can go a long time without any visitors,” Michael admitted.  
  
            “Well, you’ve got at least ten in there that the bats have gotten, and that was just the bones we could see,” he said.  
  
            “When we get back to my grandmother’s hogan, I will go to the trading post and spread the word that friends and relatives that have not been seen in a while should be checked on. I’ll also tell the Navajo Police and they can send someone out to investigate this cave.”  
  
            “Oh no. You mustn’t do that,” Kagome warned. “It’s very dangerous. These demons are very powerful. You wouldn’t have a chance against them. As it is, we’re going to bring in help from Inuyasha’s brother. For now, we’re going to wait until sunset and see if we can trap the bats in their cave when they come back to roost for the day. If we can contain them for even a short time, it will give us a chance to bring help.”  
  
            “What do you want me to do?” the young Navajo asked.  
  
            “Just wait here. When the bats leave the cave for the night, we will go in and see if there are any other exits. If there aren’t, when they come back to roost at dawn, we’ll be waiting and we’ll seal the cave,” Kagome explained.  
  
            Michael didn’t seem to be too keen on the plan and he frowned slightly. “I don’t like it. While you are in the cave, the bats could be out killing more sheep or burning more hogans down… or worse.”  
  
            “I know. But sheep aren’t killed every night and hogans aren’t burned down all the time, so they are probably only doing those things sporadically,” his mate answered. “They are most likely here for another purpose involving the uranium mines.”  
  
            An idea struck him and he turned to her. “Could they be used to mine the uranium?”  
  
            Kagome considered his question then shook her head. “Terror bats are strong and they can see in the dark, but they aren’t diggers. If someone wanted demon miners, there are other species that are much better suited to the job. Earth youkai or mole-youkai would be a much better choice.”  
            “Keh. Earth youkai and mole-youkai wouldn’t do it.”  
  
            “True. Maybe the bats are the only ones who would agree.”  
  
            His thoughts darkened. “Or maybe they were brought in to terrorize humans into letting the mines go forward,” he suggested.  
  
            Kagome’s face mirrored his own and she reached into the Jeep to grab her cell phone.  
  
            “Oi. Who are you calling?”  
  
            “Yukio, then Sesshomaru. They need to know about this,” she replied, flipping open the phone, then rolling her eyes. “Except that there’s no cell service.”  
  
            He humphed, knowing what was coming next.  
  
            “I keep telling you we need to upgrade to those new satellite phones,” she complained.  
  
            “Keh. The phones we have work well enough.”  
  
            “Except when we’re in positions like this where we need to make a call and we can’t.”       
  
            “Oi. I wasn’t expecting to be out in the middle of nowhere facing down a cave of terror bats!”  
  
            She must have heard the stress in his voice because she backed down, which was unusual for her, but he was glad of it. Their situation was really hitting him now. They were on their own in the middle of the Navajo Reservation. There was a Clan of Terror Bats about to take flight for the night to wreak god-knows-what kind of destruction. Their eldest son was guarding a bunch of humans and newborn pup, and there was no way to warn him of the danger. There was no way to call for reinforcements and there was no way they could face the whole clan on their own.  
  
            Three hundred years ago he would have gone into that cave with Tessaiga swinging, but the years had taught him the value of caution and planning. His mate and son’s lives were at stake, not to mention countless humans’, and now was not the time for recklessness. As much as it grated against him, he knew he had to wait for the right opportunity.  
  
            Kagome’s hand on his arm brought him out of his dark thoughts, and she looked at him with an expression that told him that she was with him. He managed a small smile. In all the years she had stood beside him, she was never more beautiful to him than when they were on the cusp of battle. His mate was a warrior and she had felled as many demons as he. In a crisis, there was no one he would rather have by his side in a fight.  
  
            Oh, it was great to have his sons fighting alongside him, and few could best Yukio in a head-to-head match, but Kagome’s wrath was glorious. When angered, her power was breathtaking, and he stood in awe of it even to this day. He knew that Tessaiga could bring down the cave, but it would be Kagome’s arrows that would do the purification and Kagome’s talismans that would Seal the bastards inside.  
  
            “We’ll get them,” she promised, and he closed his hand over hers in silent agreement.  
  
            “So we just wait then,” Michael asked, anger adding a rough edge to his voice.  
  
            “Yes. The sun is going down. The bats will leave the cave soon. Then we can go in and see what we have to work with,” his mate replied calmly.  
  
            The young man still didn’t look happy but he did agree to the plan, and they waited anxiously as the sun set. They moved the Jeep into the shelter of a rock overhang so it couldn’t be seen from above, and Kagome burned some ofudas to mask their scents along the trail and in the cave.  
  
            It was still twilight when they heard the rustling of huge leathery wings, and they crouched down by the Jeep to watch as the demon bats flew overhead. He tried to count them as they passed, but there were too many to keep track of and he once again wondered how anyone could have kept such a large population of Terror Bats a secret. Then, to their horror, they saw the bats circle above their cave and make an abrupt turn towards the east- heading right in the direction of Ruth’s hogan. Kagome gripped his arm tightly.  
  
            “They’re heading east,” she whispered, her voice frightened.  
  
            He nodded, grinding his teeth.  
  
            “Yukio is out there. He won’t know they’re coming. They’re bound to sense him…” she continued, echoing his own thoughts.  
  
            “Right.”  
  
            The decision was made in a heartbeat as they were already moving. The plan to investigate the cave was abandoned as they jumped into the Jeep.  
  
            “What’s going on?” Michael asked as he grabbed the young human and practically tossed him into the vehicle.  
  
            He couldn’t speak. He was too angry and worried to speak. All he could do was act, and a low growl escaped his throat as he shoved the key into the ignition and hurriedly turned on the engine.  
  
            “They’re headed east. When they pass near your grandmother’s hogan, they’ll smell Yukio. We have to get back there,” Kagome explained as he threw the Jeep into gear and felt it lurch into drive.  
  
            Michael gasped. “Ma’sani’ and Sara!”  
  
            “Exactly. We’ll investigate the cave later, but right now, we have to move,” she said, grabbing the handle above her right shoulder as he spun the wheels.  
  
            He said nothing as he gripped the wheel almost hard enough to break it and raced back to their son.  
  
  
  
TBC  
  



	9. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Navajo words used in this chapter:
> 
> Ahéhee’ – Thank you.  
> Ádóó yádahi’í – Don’t speak.

Chapter Eight  
  
  
  
            The atmosphere in the hogan was tense after his parents left and he found himself leaning one shoulder against the wall near the doorframe in order to keep out of the way. The scent of anxiety and concern was heavy in the air and it made his nose twitch. The only one who didn’t seem concerned about the situation was the pup, but then he was happily snuggled against his mother.  
  
            Finally, after several long moments of silence, the old woman got up from her chair and walked across the hut to pick up a basket of blue corn still in their husks. She took the basket and a large bowl with her as she moved past him to exit the hogan. There she sat on a blanket spread out on the dry ground and began to husk the corn with deft hands.  
  
            He smiled softly, watching her with one eye while he kept one ear on the others still in the hut. The old woman still bore a remarkable resemblance to Kaede and it still caused a dull ache in his heart. He remembered watching the old miko prepare her herbs and food plants in much the same way Ruth was now, finding solace in doing and peace in the familiar.  
  
            A minute or two later, Sara stood up and moved to help her grandmother. He put his hands out in offering towards the pup.  
  
            “You don’t have to put him in the cradleboard. I’ll watch him for you,” he told her.  
  
            She gave him a wary look as if trying to discern if he was capable of watching an infant but Emma came to his defense.  
  
            “He’s good with the baby. I’ve seen him. And I can help if need be,” the Cree woman offered.  
  
            Sara looked at the both of them then slowly handed the pup to him.  
  
            “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude, it’s just that…”  
  
            “That he was taken from you and now you don’t want to let him out of your sight. I understand,” he said gently.  
  
            The young woman gave him a grateful smile. “Yes. Thank you.”  
  
            “I can sit outside with you so you can see him, if it will make you more comfortable.”  
  
            She gave a shy nod and he followed her out of the hogan. Emma came out behind them, then David, but the young man merely went around to the south side of the hogan where a small cinderblock structure housed the firewood.  
  
            “I’ll start a fire in the wood stove,” David told them.  
  
            “Ahéhee’,” Ruth replied with a small nod.  
  
            “It means thank you,” Sara translated as she sat down next to her grandmother and began husking the corn, carefully preserving the husks themselves and setting them aside.  
  
            He sat down across from her on the ground and placed the pup in his lap. Emma sat next to the other two women and reached for an ear of corn.  
  
            “Corn is sacred to my people,” Sara said, her voice soft. “Blue corn is favored and we believe it is best for pregnant and nursing mothers.”  
  
            “Ah,” he replied, nodding.  
  
            “What will your father do if he finds Temeh?” she asked suddenly, her eyes focused on her work, but her shoulders were tense.  
  
            Her grandmother gave her a side-long glance and huffed under her breath, but the girl ignored her.  
  
            “Talk to him and bring him back here, I guess. I don’t really know what he’ll do. It depends on what he finds out.”  
  
            “He won’t hurt Temeh, will he?”  
  
            “No. And even if he wants to, my mother won’t let him.”  
  
            “So, even among your people, the females have say over the males.”  
  
            “Something like that. If you’re asking if we’re matriarchal, the answer is yes and no. Yes in that the females have the last say in what happens, but no in that the males would never admit it,” he answered, a playful smile on his lips. “My mother is a master at making my father think something was all his idea to begin with.”  
  
            “Your father is strong?”  
  
            There was something in the way the Navajo girl said it that piqued his interest and he sat up a little straighter.  
  
            “Yes, my father is very strong.”  
  
            “Are you strong?”  
  
            He blinked, creasing his brow and the pup in his lap gave a soft whine of concern.  
  
            “Yes, I am strong,” he replied carefully. “My father would not have left me behind to protect you if he did not have confidence in my abilities.”  
  
            “So you are a warrior, someone who can fight.”  
  
            “Yes. I have fought many times. Sara, why are you asking me these questions?”  
  
            “Ádóó yádahi’í,” Ruth muttered.  
  
            Whatever the old woman said, Sara ignored her.  
  
            “I just want to know if you will be able to fight whatever had Temeh so scared. He wouldn’t tell me anything, but I know he thought whatever it was was too much for him or his family to beat.”  
  
            “I don’t know, Sara. It depends on what it is. But I can tell you that my father and I are very seasoned fighters, and there is very little that we can’t handle. And if it does turn out to be something bigger than us, we can call my uncle to help. Uncle is very powerful and he has many fighters at his command.”  
  
            Sara nodded and he scented relief on her.  
  
            “Fire’s started and I put on a kettle for coffee,” David announced, coming out of the hogan and wiping his hands off on his jeans.  
  
            “Thanks. Coffee would be good,” he agreed.  
  
            The young man sat down on the ground next to him. Their backs were to the sunset, but he could feel the day waning and see the shadows getting longer.  
  
            “Do you think Temeh is dead?” Sara asked softly.  
  
            “I don’t know,” he answered truthfully. “But I don’t think so. If he was dead then the coyote shouldn’t have come. If he was dead, then a member of his family should have come to claim you and the pup in his stead. Do you know if Temeh told his parents about you and the pup?”  
  
            “He said he was going to, but I don’t know if he ever did. I know he was waiting for the right moment.”  
  
            _‘I’ll bet. “Mom, Dad, I’ve mated with a human and she’s bearing my pup.” I’m sure **that** went over well.’  
  
_             “But you don’t know if the right moment ever came.”  
  
            “No.”  
  
            He sighed and shifted the pup in his lap a little bit. Peter whined again and he barked back a soft reply, comforting him.  
  
            “I think… I think he never told them. If he had, then you would have heard something from them. No matter what they might think of his choices, there is a pup involved. With so many youkai races facing extinction, no offspring can be spared or ignored,” he said, trying to sound comforting.  
  
            “If Temeh is dead, what will happen to Peter and me?”  
  
            It was a loaded question but he knew he couldn’t spin some lie for her to make it all better. She might be just a teenager, but she deserved an honest answer.  
  
            “That would depend on what Temeh’s family wants. As Peter’s clan-kin they have a say in what happens.”  
  
            “Will they take him away?”  
  
            “I don’t know.”  
  
            Sara fell silent as the corn was husked, and now the women began to strip the kernels from the ears with small knives that Ruth handed to them. He watched as they worked, silent and intent on what they were doing. Emma seemed just as efficient at her task as the two Navajos, but he had seen her cast quick glances at their work as if to make sure she was doing it correctly. As men, he and David were not expected to help with the food preparation but David kept an ear out for the kettle.  
  
            When the corn was stripped, Ruth gathered the bowl while Sara took the cobs and Emma picked up the saved husks. They stood up and he and David stood with them and they all went back into the hogan.  
  
            “Thank you for being honest with me,” Sara told him softly as he entered the home.  
  
            “You’re welcome. You’ll find that most youkai don’t lie. Not the ones with any honor, but even the ones that are what you would call evil. We’re a pathologically honest bunch. Even if we plan to kill you and turn your bones into soup, chances are we’ll tell it to you plainly,” he joked weakly.  
  
            The young woman chuckled and offered him a small smile. “Thank you. That’s good to know.”  
  
            He kept pup-sitting, although there wasn’t much to it. Peter was quiet and cooperative so he was able to focus his attention elsewhere. Not much else was said in the hogan as the women prepared blue corn mush and fry bread for a meal. He had learned early on that many Native peoples did not fill a room with idle chatter. Unlike many Anglos he knew, they did not love the sound of their own voices, nor did they fear the silence.  
  
            Edgar Allen Poe had once written a fable about silence but he’d never really understood what the narrator’s problem was. In the story the narrator bemoaned the sounds of the river and water-lilies and being alone, and all manner of things that he, personally, would have found delightful. He could spend many a day sitting by the side of a river just listening to the water with no one else around for leagues. As a young hanyou in Japan, he’d often done just that.  
  
            So the lack of chatter in the hogan didn’t bother him. Other than Ruth giving short commands in Dineh, no one else spoke and that freed his hearing to focus on sounds outside of the hut, on the dying day and the breath of the wind.  
  
            Coffee was served with the mush and fry bread along with some leftover boiled beans and squash. Nothing was too spicy which suited his taste buds well, and he thanked his hosts for the meal. The coffee wasn’t bad either.  
  
            After the meal, and once the dishes were washed in a bucket filled with water from a barrel outside, they settled in to wait. Ruth and Sara set about some mending and Emma helped. Peter was fed and changed and given back into his care. David pulled some papers from his own pack and began working on something for one of his classes while he resumed his place by the door, only this time he was sitting with his back to the hogan wall and Peter was in his lap.  
  
            The sun had set and the temperatures had dropped considerably once the light had gone. The wind had picked up as well, and he could hear it scraping across the hard ground and breaking around the walls of the hogan. He closed his eyes to listen.  
  
            The sounds and scents were so familiar; just like it had been when they had lived in Japan. His mind superimposed the scent of beans with that of steaming rice and the soft murmur of Dineh with the words of Japanese. His mother and Kaede preparing herbs, talking quietly. His father out hunting or chopping wood while he stayed behind to guard the home. He had always felt so honored when his father had trusted him with the protection of the family. Many young men would have been insulted to be asked to stay behind, but he had recognized his father’s faith in his fighting abilities. No words could ever express the amount of trust his father had shown in him more than when he would leave the most precious things in his life in his eldest son’s care.  
  
            Often he would watch the littles while keeping a sharp lookout for danger. His brothers and sisters would tumble around his feet, clamoring for his attention, and he would tune his hearing to listen above the din of their voices, alert for any sound that did not belong. How many times had he sat in their house holding his latest brother or sister in his arms? How many times had he turned to Miaka and asked, ‘Can this one be ours?’  
  
            When he was old enough, and mated with a prosperous house, he would look to his wife with pleading eyes. ‘Can we not be parents now? My mother and father have so many children. Can we not take this one? Please, Miaka. I want to be a father.’  
  
            He had desperately, **_desperately_** wanted Kitarou. But Miaka had said no. He had even asked to take Tetsukazu, even though Miaka had been absolutely terrified of him. Miaka had staged a full-scale revolt until he’d backed down and let his parents have the dragon-hanyou. Of course, after Tetzu, youkai families kept their hanyou babies and there were no more infants to be adopted. There had been a narrow window of opportunity for him to parent a pup, and that window had closed centuries ago.  
  
            Presumably, now that his mother had pioneered the field of hanyou-human invitro-fertilization, he could father his own pup. **_If_** he was able to find a suitable mate and **_if_** she was willing to go through the painful and often risky procedure in order to have a pup, it was possible that his dream of fatherhood could come true.  
  
            He snorted. _‘Not likely on either of those fronts.’  
  
_             He looked down at Peter who looked back at him with his big eyes.  
  
            _‘You would have been so loved and spoiled,’_ he thought, smiling gently at the pup.  
  
            He knew from Sara’s reaction to being reunited with her son, that there was no way she would let him go without her coming with him. The more likely scenario would be that she would come to live with them in Canada if this Temeh could not be found. And no matter how things worked out, he had no mate and no house of his own, so the idea of raising Peter as his own was out of the question.  
  
_‘Unless… unless Temeh rejects the pup and Sara allows me to step in…’  
  
_             They wouldn’t be mates but… but perhaps…  
  
            He sighed audibly and the others in the room looked askance at him. He gave them a small smile and shook his head.  
  
            “I’ve never been good at waiting,” he explained glibly.  
  
            David chuckled. “Me either. Want more coffee?”  
  
            “Yeah,” he agreed and started to stand. His legs had gone numb from his time on the hogan floor.  
  
            Maybe it was the sudden lack of noise from the normal night creatures. Maybe it was the almost undetectable sound of gravel being crushed. Maybe it was the cold chill that ran up his spine and triggered all of his defensive instincts. Whatever it was, he came to full alert and turned his head to the hogan door, his hand immediately going to the hilt of his sword.  
  
            “What is it?” David asked worriedly.  
  
            “Someone is coming,” he answered.  
  
            He quickly handed Peter to his mother who took him without question.  
  
            “I’m going to go check it out. You stay here,” he said.  
  
            David grabbed a rifle that was leaning against the wall by the door and checked to see if it was loaded. It was.  
  
            “I’ll come with you,” the young Cree said, snapping the rifle shut with a loud snap.  
  
            He nodded, acknowledging him as another male who could protect the females.  
  
            “Okay, but follow my lead. I don’t sense any non-humans, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there.”  
  
            David gave a grunt of agreement, and they both went out the hogan door.  
  
            It was full dark, but the sky was a blanket of stars, providing more than enough light for his hanyou eyes to see. He didn’t know how well David’s vision was in the dark, but the man seemed to be doing alright.  
  
            The intruders must have tried to hide their approach by parking their vehicles down the road and walking up, but they were no match for his sharp ears. There were about twelve of them, all human males from what he could smell, but some of them were carrying guns.  
  
            “About a dozen. Several of them are armed,” he said to David, knowing the man couldn’t see or hear them yet.  
  
            The Cree’s face turned grim, his mouth straightening into a thin line, and nodded.  
  
            The little mob seemed surprised to find them waiting when they rounded the bluff, and for a moment the group stopped.  
  
            “Did you get lost?” he asked with a wry smile. “I’ve been told that the ‘Rifles For Dummies’ convention is back that way.” He pointed down the bluff, back towards the dirt road.  
  
            One of the men stepped forward, holding his rifle pointed towards the ground but ready to swing up into position. He was an older man with the black hair and angular face of a full-blooded Navajo.  
  
            “You are not welcome here, stranger, and have no business at my daughter’s hogan. I’m asking you to leave,” the man said gruffly.  
  
            _‘Hm. Must be Sara and Michael’s father,’_ he mused with ill-humor. Shaking his head, he replied, “Sorry. No can do. I promised to protect the people in that hogan, especially the young girl and her newborn.”  
  
            There were unhappy grumbles from the mob, but none of them moved. From the corner of his eye, he was surprised to see a boy no older than twelve among the men, and he frowned.  
  
            “The witch-child has been brought back. It must be destroyed,” the man insisted. “Please step aside and you will not be hurt.”  
  
            “I can’t do that. But if you cease this idiocy and go home, **_you_** will not be hurt.”  
  
            The man snarled and cocked his rifle. “Who the hell do you think you are?”  
  
            He squared his shoulders and drew his sword as David cocked the rifle he was holding.  
  
            “I am this hogan’s protector, and if you know what’s good for you, you will go home.”  
  
            The man laughed. “You’re stupider than my daughter who allowed herself to be seduced by a skinwalker.”  
  
            “You have no concept of the forces at work here. You have no chance, **_no chance_** , of winning against me. I have no desire to harm anyone, but I will do what is necessary to protect the people in my care,” he replied, moving Kenshuga into a protective position with the blade facing outward.  
  
            All he had to do was let it surge once, and the entire mob would be thrown back by its repulsing power. The blast wouldn’t kill anyone and, hopefully, all they would have to deal with would be a couple of concussions. Which, considering that the father seemed to be stubbornly hard-headed, might not be such a bad thing. Too bad the warning fell on deaf ears.  
  
            It never ceased to amaze him how stupid humans could be in a mob. It was as if they thought the sheer number of them could negate all the laws and morals of an entire culture and give it over to destructive instinct. He’d faced quite a few mobs in his long lifetime and each one had been the same. Maybe the faces were different, but the scent of anger and sexual excitement roiled around them in the same way.  
  
            The sexual element had confused him at first, but then his mother had compared it to the mating fever that caused bucks to attack anything that moved. Of course, the real difference between then and now was the fact that now he was a fully adult male, and he was completely confident in his ability to defeat the ones who were threatening him. That in itself added an element of his own sexual excitement to the mix. The demon in him loved violence and it **_wanted_** to play. He had a hard time reining it in.  
  
            They appeared to be at a stand-still, each side eyeing the other, looking for an opening. It was just a matter of time before the whole situation blew up in his face. He just hoped no one got killed in the fray. Fortunately, some of the fever was fading from the mob as if being faced by an opposing force had cooled their bloodlust a little, but the leader still had rage in his eyes.  
  
            In the end, the trigger was a rock. It wasn’t a very big rock, or a very heavy rock, but it was a well aimed rock. It hit David right on the temple, and he fell back against the wall of the hogan with a gasp, blood staining his face. He dropped the rifle and slumped to the ground, and Yukio turned, momentarily distracted by the wounded man next to him. The mob scented the blood and surged forward.  
  
            “Get back!” he ordered, pulsing Kenshuga. The blade sent out a bolt of white energy that scorched the ground in a wide arc.  
  
            The mob paused, then rallied, encouraged by the fact that David was still down.  
  
            “The skinwalker must be destroyed!” the leader yelled, raising his rifle. The mob answered with a roar of agreement.  
  
_‘Oh shit…’  
  
_             “What’s going on?” Emma’s voice asked as he saw her step out of the hogan.  
  
            He raised Kenshuga and prepared to send out another blast.  
  
            “Get back inside!” he ordered, but she had already seen her cousin sprawled on the ground.  
  
            “David!” she cried and ran to the wounded man.  
  
            “Damnit, woman! Get back in the hogan!!”  
  
            She defied him, in spite of the fear in her eyes, and picked up the fallen rifle.  
  
            “No.”  
  
            He remembered how much he had appreciated her strength in Park City, how she had stood with him after the incident with the corpse dust, but now he was also remembering how much a strong-willed woman could be a double-edged sword.  
  
            He growled, low and warning. The situation had changed. Now with Emma standing there with him, his territorial instincts were kicking in, and the scent of David’s blood was inciting his own battle lust. It was very, very dangerous, and he had to keep reminding himself that his enemies were only human, that they weren’t any real threat. If he hadn’t, he would have cut them down in one bloody swath.  
  
            “Give us the witch-child!” the leader demanded.  
  
            He set his jaw and prepared to fight.  
  
_‘Please, please, please. I don’t want to kill anyone…’  
  
_             Emma raised the rifle.The mob roared again. Their battle cry was answered by a deafening shriek that he knew did not come from him. He had just enough time to look up and feel the surge of sickening youki, right before real death came diving out of the night sky.  
  



	10. Chapter Nine

Chapter 9  
  
  
  
            Kagome prayed. She prayed that the Jeep’s axels didn’t break on the rough ground they were speeding over. She prayed that they didn’t run out of gas on the way back. She prayed that, by some miracle, the Terror Bats would turn in the other direction.  
  
            For a moment, it looked like her prayers were answered when the swarm appeared to be heading south, but then her heart sank when a small group of about two dozen bats veered off from the main swarm and headed east. She heard Inuyasha growl and felt him apply more pressure to the gas pedal as the Jeep sped up even more.  
  
_‘They’ve scented him, they’ve scented Yukio…’  
  
_             She prayed that her son could hold the bats off until she and Inuyasha could get there.  
  
            Suddenly Inuyasha gasped and growled even louder.  
  
            “What is it?” she asked, dreading his answer.  
  
            “Something’s wrong. Yukio’s drawn his sword.”  
  
            She drew her own sharp breath. Inuyasha always knew when one of his sons’ swords was drawn because they were made from his own fangs.  
  
            “But… the bats couldn’t have gotten that far ahead of us…” she argued, flicking her eyes back to the black spots against the darkening sky.  
  
            “I dunno. I just know he’s drawn it. Here, you drive.”  
  
            It was something they had done before: switched drivers without stopping the vehicle. It was reckless and dangerous, but they could do it smoothly when the need arose.  
  
            “Un,” she agreed and moved to slip into the back seat.  
  
            “What are you doing?” Michael asked, alarmed, as she joined him on the rear bench.  
  
            “Don’t worry, we’ve never crashed while doing this,” she said as she leaned over the driver’s seat and took the wheel.  
  
            While she steered, Inuyasha put the Jeep on cruise control and moved over into the passenger seat. Then he took the wheel as she moved from the rear seat into the driver’s seat. She was no sooner in control of the vehicle when Inuyasha rolled down the window and pulled himself out.  
  
            “I’m going onto the roof. Don’t lose those bastards, Kagome,” her mate ordered as she watched his bare feet slip out.  
  
            There was a loud thud and the top of the Jeep groaned under the added weight. She eased up on the gas a little bit when she heard the scraping of Inuyasha’s feet.  
  
_‘There goes the paint…’  
  
_             “Faster, Kagome! Faster!”  
  
            Stepping on the gas, she prayed they’d all arrive in one piece.  
  
  
  
********  
  
  
  
            The human side of him recoiled at the arrival of the Terror Bats even as his demon side rejoiced. Here were enemies he could fight. Here were things he could kill, and his bloodlust rose to gorge in his throat and came out as a defiant howl. Emma screamed as he swung Kenshuga, letting it surge with its full power. The blast blew right into the diving swarm and took out five of them.  
  
            Unfortunately there were a lot more than five in the swarm, and the remaining bats lashed out at him and the helpless, terror-frozen humans with their talons. He heard at least two impacts and their accompanying screams, and the stench of spilled blood assaulted his nose. Frantically, he looked for Emma and found her behind him, still guarding her cousin and still holding the rifle. She looked horrified and brave all at the same time.  
  
            “Stay behind me!” he ordered, but did not wait for her agreement.  
  
            A sweep of the area showed that two of the mob were down, bleeding from wounds made by the Terror Bats’ claws. It appeared that his attack hadn’t stopped them from diving, but it had stopped them from carrying anyone off. The reprieve was short-lived, however, because he could see them circling overhead. He snarled and swung Kenshuga.  
  
            **_“Die!”_** he roared and hit them again.  
  
            Four more fell, and the shrieks of their brethren were almost deafening, but they couldn’t drown out the howls of the pup that were now coming from inside the hogan. He gritted his teeth and swung again. He never could ignore the sound of a distressed child, and the pup’s wails galvanized his battle lust to a sharp, hot edge. It was dangerous. He was furious, and losing himself to his demon side was a very real possibility.  
  
            There was a freedom in letting go, in allowing his demon blood to take over. With it came a heady rush of power, an intoxicating euphoria that only existed when he dropped the patina of humanity and let his demon side rip. He didn’t have the shame and horrifying memories that his father did of what could happen when the demon took complete control. His father had slaughtered humans in his bloodlust, and Inuyasha had carried the guilt ever since. He carried no such guilt. His demon blood had never been freed out of his ability to master it. His sword had never been broken.  
  
            His demon was invincible, undefeated and unashamed. When faced with a worthy opponent, it rose to the fore, fangs gnashing, claws curled and ready for battle. Snarling, growling, he attacked his enemies with a ruthless abandon that he hadn’t felt in years. All of his pent up frustration and confusion came roaring out in a great surge of force that he threw into the swing of his sword and used to blast the bastard bats right out of the sky.  
  
            The problem with fighting with a sword like Kenshuga was its limited scope. Once an enemy figured out the blade’s power and range, it was easy to avoid the surge, especially if the attack came from the sky. The bats were adept at aerial maneuvers, and soon he was missing more than he was scoring strikes. Kenshuga didn’t have a broad reaching attack like Kongousouha so it was soon apparent that he was at a disadvantage.  
  
            Knowing that he could have a problem tempered his battle rage and brought him back down from the head rush. He looked around during a brief pause in the fighting as the bats regrouped and assessed the damage. He’d killed ten of them, but there were still at least a dozen left, and they were easily avoiding his strikes. Plus he had no doubt that they were calling their buddies to the battle because only scout groups of Terror Bats were this small. He had no idea how many of them there really were, but he had a sinking feeling that there were going to be too many of them for him to handle.  
  
            _‘This was the youki we were feeling. This is the evil that has been plaguing these people and their land,’_ he realized.  
  
            When he thought about it, it made sense, although he couldn’t imagine what could bring a swarm of Terror Bats so far away from their natural habitat.  
  
_‘Uncle is not going to be pleased.’  
  
_             Then he gasped when he remembered that his parents had headed west when they had left the hogan, and the bats had come from the west.  
  
_‘No. Oh no. Okaa-san and Otou-san… What if they encountered the bats before they got here? No, I’d know it. I’d feel it. Kenshuga would know if Tessaiga was brought into play. It would tell me. But what if this is what that silver coyote had come to tell us about? What if **this** is why Temeh hasn’t come back for Sara and her pup?’_ He didn’t like the idea at all, and he set his jaw as the bats began another dive. _‘Okaa-san, Otou-san, please be safe! I’ll find you just as soon as I finish **killing these bastards!’  
  
**_**_“Eat this!!”  
  
            _** Kenshuga surged, but as the blast left the blade he heard a new sound behind him: the shick, shick of a rifle barrel being engaged, then the deafening crack of the gun being fired just over his head. That in and of itself was a surprise. The fact that the bullets were glowing with purifying energy was the real shocker.  
  
            He watched, stunned, as both shots fired hit their marks, and two of the bats shrieked as the holy light obliterated them. He whirled to stare at Emma who was still holding the smoking rifle and looking just as surprised as he was.  
  
_‘Oh shit, she’s a miko!’  
  
_             A miko who had just come into her power the same way his own mother had come into hers: in the midst of life-threatening battle. A miko who was now looking at him as if she had never seen him before.  
  
_‘Shit. The concealment spell doesn’t work on her anymore!’  
  
_  
  
********  
  
  
  
            Emma was terrified. She couldn’t remember a time when she had felt such horror and fear. From the moment she had come out of the hogan to find her cousin down on the ground with blood on his forehead, Yukio holding a very big sword, and a mob of angry Navajos threatening the home, she had been more angry than frightened. Then all that had changed when these **_things_** had come diving out of the sky. They looked like bats, but not like any bats she had ever seen. They were huge and had blazing red eyes, and they shrieked as they came down, mouths full of deadly teeth.  
  
_‘Dear God what are those things?!’  
  
_             Yukio roared and white lightning came out of his sword, killing five of the big bats with one strike.  
  
_‘Oh my God. How can a sword do that?’  
  
_             Unfortunately, the bats had hit two of the mob and both were wounded. She was trying to wrap her head around what was happening when Yukio turned to her and ordered her to stay behind him. Then he attacked again and killed four more.  
  
            _‘Oh good,’_ she thought with some relief. _‘He can kill them…’  
  
_             But her relief was short-lived, however, when she saw that the bats were able to evade the lighting coming from Yukio’s blade. She could see him getting frustrated as his swings became more forceful and heated, but he still kept missing, and each time the bats got closer and closer to them.  
  
            _‘It’s only a matter of time before those things get one of us! I have to do something to help him.’  
  
_             She looked down at the rifle she was holding. She knew it was loaded and there was a box of bullets on the ground at her feet. It was a general purpose hunting rifle; not unlike the ones her family had been hunting with for decades. Theoretically she could load and shoot it without too much difficulty, and she was a fair shot.  
  
            _‘I might not be able to hit too many of them, but I might be able to draw them in closer so Yukio can get them with his sword…’  
  
_             She lifted the rifle, aimed and fired, then quickly reloaded and fired off a second shot. She felt something odd as she pulled the trigger; an energy that flowed out of her hands, but she chalked it up to nerves. She’d never been this close to death before, and she knew that she needed to give herself a little slack if she was feeling out of sorts.  
  
            Her first hint that what she was feeling might not be nerves was when she noticed that the bullets were glowing with bright white light. She watched them flying towards the two bats she had targeted and both hit home. The bats screamed upon impact and were quickly consumed by the light, shrieking as they disappeared.  
  
_‘What the Hell…’  
  
_             She looked down at the rifle, then back up at Yukio and gasped. The veneer of the handsome Asian man was gone, and she knew she was seeing him in his true form. His hair was silver white, his eyes a vivid gold, and his ears were canine ears that sat on the top of his head. He must have realized that she could see through his spell because he stared at her just as she was staring at him. She stammered, her jaw working, but her mouth refused to make any sounds. He snarled, pulling back his upper lip to reveal two sharp fangs, and craned his head up to the remaining ten bats.  
  
            “What are you waiting for?! A written invitation?” he yelled. “Reload and shoot!”  
  
            She was still stammering when he spun on one foot and swung his sword again. To her horror, he missed the diving bats and two of them swept into the mob. She heard twin sickening thuds, and their accompanying screams, as the bats snared two men in their talons. When the creatures lifted off she saw that each had a victim, one of whom was no more than a boy.  
  
            “No!” she cried, and grabbed for the box of bullets.  
  
            Thankfully Yukio was already moving, and she saw him make an incredible leap upward to grab the bat that had captured the boy. She brought up the rifle and aimed at the bats nearest to her. She didn’t dare shoot the bat that carried the man because she feared it would then drop its prey, letting the man fall to his death. Instead she aimed for the bats surrounding him, letting her inner voice tell her when to pull the trigger. Each time she fired, the bullets glowed and they hit their marks with an accuracy she had never been able to master before.  
  
            She let off half a dozen shots, and felled six of the horrible things, then took a moment to catch her breath and locate Yukio. Above her, she could barely see the two bats she was looking for: one who carried a man whom she now was fairly certain was dead, and the other who carried a kicking boy in its talons and a silver-haired dog demon on its back. Yukio’s hair gleamed in the moonlight, and she could see him struggling with the creature as it tried to get more distance between it and the ground.  
  
            Next to her David moaned, and she knew that he was regaining consciousness. She didn’t know how badly he’d been hurt, but she could see a nasty gash on his temple. She wanted to help him, or at least get him into the hogan, but she didn’t dare leave the battle. Yukio was depending upon her to help bring down the remaining bat things, and she didn’t have time to play nursemaid to her cousin.  
  
            “Are you okay?” she asked him, sparing a glance down as she reloaded the rifle.  
  
            “What’s going on?” David asked, his voice unsteady.  
  
            “You don’t want to know. Just stay down and do something about that gash on your head; you’re bleeding a lot, and blood scent is not what we need right now.”  
  
            She aimed and fired, taking out one of the remaining five.  
  
            “What the hell…” David slurred.  
  
            She reloaded and fired again. Three to go. “I told you, you don’t want to know.”  
  
            She set her site on the remaining unburdened monster and put pressure on the trigger. Her shot was interrupted, however, by the arrival of a whole host of new bats coming to join the fight.  
  
            _‘Oh my god, there’s more of them!’  
  
_             At the same time the bats appeared, she heard a terrible scream and looked up just in time to see Yukio, and the boy the bat had been carrying, falling from the sky. She watched in horror, and in awe, as Yukio grabbed the screaming boy in freefall and deliberately placed himself underneath the child so that he would hit the ground first. There was no such luck for the other Navajo the bats had grabbed, and he fell to earth as well. But there was no sound coming from him, confirming her suspicion that the man was almost certainly already dead.  
  
            All three landed within moments of each other, but she couldn’t see them beyond the cowering mob and the cloud of dust kicked up by the impact. She waited, straining, hoping beyond hope that at least one of them had survived. If Yukio had been injured, she didn’t know what she was going to do. The number of enemies against them had just significantly multiplied, and there was no one left that could help her fight. The mob, she was sure, was all but useless, and she had the only rifle that had been in the hogan. Unless Inuyasha and Kagome returned very soon, she feared that they would be overwhelmed.  
  
            She reloaded the rifle, intending to buy them as much time as possible (or at least go down fighting) and fired into the swarm, sending off as many rounds as she could as quickly as possible. She had taken out four of them when she heard a tremendous roar from behind the mob. She had no words to describe her joy, and relief, as she watched Yukio leap into the air, sword swinging in a wide arc and letting out a blast of power that ripped through the bats.  
  
            “Yukio!” she cried, and followed up his attack with another volley of bullets.  
  
            He landed, barefoot and bloodied, a few paces from her, and the ground cracked from the impact. There was a feral gleam in his eyes as he snarled and swung the sword again.  
  
            **_“Die!!”_** he yelled as more bats met their fate.  
  
            He turned to her on the backswing, eyes focusing for a moment upon her and the rifle. “Are you alright?”  
  
            “Yes.”  
  
            He nodded and launched another attack.  
  
            “How is the boy? Did he live?” she asked desperately.  
  
            “Some broken bones and scared to death, but he’ll be fine if we can get him medical attention. Not much I could do for the other one though, his neck was broken before he fell.”  
  
            “Can we beat them, you and I?”  
  
            He looked at her, and his eyes said everything she did not want to hear. “Fire your purifying bullets, miko, and pray my parents get back soon.”  
  
            He had no more words for her as he threw himself back into the battle, putting himself between the bats and the terrified mob. Some of the Navajos were coming out of their fear and aiming at the bats with their own rifles, but she doubted that they would be able to do much good. She reloaded and fired again.  
  
  
  
********  
  
  
  
            They were almost back. They were almost out of gas. Inuyasha’s feet had pounded two large dents in the roof of the Jeep. She was going as fast as she dared on the dirt roads after dark, and she prayed it would be fast enough. After they had seen such a small group of the Terror Bats break off to fly towards the hogan while the rest of the swarm headed south, they had relaxed a little because they knew that Yukio was more than capable of handling a couple of dozen Terror Bats on his own. But the sense of urgency returned tenfold when a second group of the bats, this one comprising at least another thirty individuals, came streaking out of the south.  
  
            “Oi! Kagome! Hurry it up!” her mate ordered, his voice angry and harsh.  
  
            “I’m going as fast as I can!”  
  
            She couldn’t blame him for wanting her to go faster. She was feeling the urgency herself, but it wouldn’t help their son any if they wrecked the Jeep on the way back. Michael was being accommodatingly quiet, although she thought that had little to do with manners as it did with his own anger and fear. She realized that, until he’d seen the Terror Bats for himself, he’d really had no idea what it was they were up against; but now that he’d witnessed them firsthand, the reality of the situation was really hitting home.  
  
            She could see him in the rearview mirror. His face was drawn and his jaw was tight with clenched teeth. No doubt Inuyasha wore the same expression somewhere above her on the roof of the Jeep. Her own hands were wrapped tightly around the steering wheel, gripping it as hard as she could. Yukio was out there, and he was fighting the terror bats on his own, of that she was certain, although why he had drawn Kenshuga before the bats had even gotten to him, she could only guess.  
  
            _‘Was there another cave of them? Or a different threat that he felt he needed to use his sword?’  
  
_             They didn’t know, and they wouldn’t know until they got back to the hogan.  
  
            There was a loud thud as she ran over a rock and she heard Inuyasha curse.  
  
            “Oi! Watch it, Kagome!”  
  
            “I’m sorry! You know this ground is uneven!”  
  
            “Be careful, we’re approaching an arroyo,” Michael warned shakily. “If you don’t look out, you’ll drive right into it.”  
  
            “Okay,” she answered, and concentrated on trying to see what little she could of the road ahead.  
  
            They avoided the arroyo, but not by much, and she sent the Jeep careening around a sharp bend. The moment they cleared the turn the hogan came blessedly into view, and she could see the new swarm of bats join the rest. Her heart caught in her throat as she watched her eldest son throw himself into the battle, sword swinging, hair flying behind him. She slammed her foot down on the gas pedal, forcing the Jeep as fast as it would go.  
  
            “Kongousouha!” she heard Inuyasha yell as he sent forth a blast of diamond spears from his blade.  
  
            The attack flew right into the middle of the swarm, piercing bodies and delicate wing membranes. She saw three fall. Then there was a loud bang, and she saw a flash of purifying energy hit one of the bats.  
  
            _‘Purifying energy?’_ she thought, confused, even as she was making the Jeep skid to a halt in front of the hogan.  
  
            Inuyasha was off the roof and swinging Tessaiga before she had a chance to turn off the engine.  
  
            “Kongousouha!” her mate shouted again and another diamond spear blast exploded through the swarm.  
  
            She practically threw herself out of the Jeep and ran for the rear compartment where she kept her bow. Behind her she heard the sound of another gunshot and felt the purifying force.  
  
_‘There has to be another miko here…’  
  
_             She grabbed her bow and quiver of arrows and ran to join the fray. She found herself in the middle of a warzone. There was a group of strange Navajos, many armed with rifles, shooting ordinary bullets up into the circling swarm. Bodies of felled bats littered the ground, some of them in multiple pieces, but so far she didn’t see any human remains. Looking at the hogan, she saw David slumped against the wall. Emma was standing beside him, a rifle in her hands. Then she saw the Cree woman fire a purifying bullet from the gun and knew she had found her miko.  
  
            “Emma!” she cried, rushing over to the young woman.  
  
            “Kagome,” Emma replied, looking frightened but relieved.  
  
            “Are you alright?”  
  
            “Yes, but David is hurt.”  
  
            She looked down and saw a minor wound on the man’s temple.  
  
            “I’m okay,” he insisted, but his glazed eyes said otherwise.  
  
            _‘Hmm, concussion maybe,’_ she thought. _‘But not a serious one.’  
  
_             “What are these things, Kagome?” Emma asked, firing another purifying bullet.  
  
            Like her own arrows, Emma’s bullets did not miss their target, and another bat fell.  
  
            “They’re Terror Bats,” she explained over the chaos of battle.  
  
            “How many more of them are there?”  
  
            “I don’t know. Most of the swarm was headed south!”  
  
            “Okaa-san!” Yukio yelled as he landed next to her. His hair and eyes were wild, and his clothes were splattered with blood.  
  
            “Yukio!”  
  
            “Now that Otou-san is here, we have the battle, but there are wounded… a boy especially…” her son told her, waving a hand in the direction of a nearby bluff.  
  
            “I’ll see what I can do!” she answered, already moving.  
  
            Scrambling over the hard ground, she found the boy and assessed his condition. He had a broken leg, a broken arm, and several contusions. She hated to move him, but she had to get him out of the danger zone. She was frantically trying to figure out a way to get him into the hogan without doing him more damage when someone landed on his knees next to her.  
  
            “My God what is happening here?” Michael gasped, his eyes wide with shock.  
  
            “It’s okay. Inuyasha and Yukio can handle them.” _‘As long as the rest of the swarm doesn’t decide to come.’_ “Here! Help me! We need to get the wounded into the hogan.”  
  
            Michael nodded and began issuing directions in Dineh, urging the men to get into the safety of the hogan, then he helped her carry the boy. She called out to David as they passed, telling him to get up and come inside. She was relieved when she saw him struggle to his feet and follow.  
  
            “Emma!” she called.  
  
            The Cree woman shook her head as she reloaded her rifle. “I’m staying out here. I can help!”  
  
            Part of what was left of a bat fell near her feet, and she decided not to argue. Michael opened the hogan door and all of them spilled in, much to Ruth and Sara’s concern.  
  
            “What is going on?” Sara demanded, clutching her crying son close to her chest. “It sounds like a horrible monster is out there!”  
  
            “Monsters,” her brother corrected. “Monsters.”  
  
            “This boy is badly hurt. I can treat him as best I can, but we’ll need to get him to a hospital as soon as possible,” she explained as they laid the barely conscious boy on the hogan floor. “Sara is there a first aid kit here in the hogan?”  
  
            “Yes! It’s on the shelves against the east wall.”  
  
            Good. That meant she didn’t have to go out to the Jeep to get her bag. At least not right away. She could concentrate on putting a barrier up so that the bats couldn’t get in.  
  
            “I’m going to cast a shield spell to keep the bats out,” she told Michael. “It’ll protect everyone in here.”  
  
            “You can do something like that?” he asked.  
  
            “When you have hanyou babies that everyone wants to kill, you learn how to cast shields pretty quickly. Watch the boy. This won’t take me long.”  
  
            She saw him nod and nodded back. Breathing deep, she pulled her power to her and built the barrier, defining it and giving it form. Then she cast it outwards, and it expanded like a giant bubble until it encompassed the entire hogan. She did it so easily that it amazed even her. There had been a time when barriers had been difficult for her, but time and practice had made her an expert. Now only a select handful of individuals could best her shields, Midorikyou being one of them. But then the immortal miko had taught her everything she knew.  
  
            Barrier in place, she breathed a sigh of relief and moved to tend to the wounded. Ruth had risen to her feet and she was glad to see the old woman already moving to boil water and gather triage supplies. Sara, on the other hand, was staring at the bedraggled crowd in the hogan with anger and shock.  
  
            “Tommy Begay! Bobby! Les!” the girl cried, obviously recognizing some of the men in the six or so who had come running into the hogan. The remaining Navajos had opted to stay outside, probably to keep fighting.  
  
            She didn’t know why there had been a group of armed Navajos outside the hogan when the bats had attacked but she could take a few guesses. Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw one of them look hatefully at the baby in Sara’s arms.  
  
            “The Skinwalker had to be destroyed,” one of them explained sullenly.  
  
            “You were going to kill me and my baby!” the teenager accused.  
  
            “Not you! Just the witch child!” another argued.  
  
            From the corner of her eye, as she attempted to determine how bad the boy’s bones were broken, she saw Sara turn Peter towards the men. She knew that the concealment necklace was still on the baby so he now looked completely human.  
  
            “Does **_this_** look like a Skinwalker to you?” Sara seethed.  
  
            The men gasped. “Vincent told us he was half animal! Half Coyote!” one insisted.  
  
            “My father is a drunk. How can you believe anything he says?”  
  
            “If it is not a Skinwalker why did it send its giant flying death bats to kill us?!” another demanded.  
  
            “Those weren’t sent by the Skinwalker!” Michael interrupted. “They were sent by greedy Whites looking to steal our uranium.”  
  
            “Our uranium?”  
  
            “Yes. We found their lair. They’ve been here for months, killing livestock and even some people. The cave was littered with bones. They’re from Asia. They didn’t get here by accident,” she told them, adding weight to Michael’s words.  
  
            On the floor, the boy moaned in pain and she had to focus her attention on him. Ruth came to join her and the next several minutes were taken up with treating the wounded. The boy’s injuries were the worst, thankfully. Everyone else suffered some minor scrapes and bruises, although one man had been gouged with talons but his leather vest had protected him from most of it.  
  
            As she worked, she could hear and feel the battle raging outside, and she prayed that the rest of the swarm continued on its way south to wherever it was going. If it decided to turn back north…  
  
            She cursed under her breath.  
  
            “What I wouldn’t give for a working cell phone!” she complained to no one.  
  
            “My phone works,” she heard David reply.  
  
            “It does?” she asked, turning her head to look at him in shock.  
  
            “Yeah. I have satellite service. It’s the only service that works out here.”  
  
            If she had a cell phone she could call Sesshoumaru…  
  
            “May I use it, please?”  
  
            Wincing, one hand to his bruised head, he reached down into his bag and pulled out a flip phone.  
  
            “Sure. Here it is.”  
  
            “Arigato!” she cried happily as she grabbed the phone from his hand, her fingers already dialing the familiar number.  
  
            “Yes?” her brother-in-law’s voice said tersely, and she’d never heard a more welcome sound in all her life.  
  
            “Sesshoumaru! Something terrible is happening!” she said and quickly explained the situation.  
  
            A furious growl came over the line, then the taiyoukai’s cold voice answered, “It shall be dealt with immediately.”  
  
            The tone of his voice made her shiver, and she thanked the gods he was on her side.  
  
            “Thank you Sesshoumaru-sama.”  
  
            “Do you need assistance there?”  
  
            She thought of how Inuyasha would feel if agents from his brother showed up to join the fray and gulped.  
  
            “No. Inuyasha and Yukio are alright. It’s the rest of the swarm that needs to be taken care of.”  
  
            “Understood.”  
  
            The line went dead and she knew he had hung up. She was too relieved to be irritated by his rudeness. Sesshoumaru was always that way, and there was no sense in getting angry about it now. Besides, she now didn’t have to worry about the rest of the swarm.  
  
            She shuddered, remembering the controlled fury in Sesshoumaru’s voice.  
  
            She prayed for the poor, hapless bats about to face the full anger of the Lord of the West. They didn’t have a chance.  
  



	11. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Navajo words:  
> Hataalii - medicine man
> 
> A/N: Okay, fans of the manga will notice that a familiar face appears at the end of this chapter; a face they will be surprised to see. Please remember that in The Lucky Ones/Coyote Child universe, Inuyasha and friends killed Naraku when Kagome was 17. Therefore all events in the manga that happened AFTER I ended TLO, which was around chapter 355 and the last episode of the anime. I know a lot has happened in the manga since then and TLO no longer fits into the IY timeline the way it did when I wrote it. A lot of my trouble with TLO and CC right now comes from my knowing these stories don’t “fit” anymore. 
> 
> Anyhoo, the cameo appearance of this character stems from someone asking about her, and thought it would be nice to answer the question. And she was cool in the manga so it’s nice to write her into the story. Enjoy!

Chapter 10  
  
  
  
            It was all over but the cleanup. In the end, the only human casualty was the one man who had broken his neck when a bat grabbed him, which, all things considered, was extremely lucky. There were a few injuries, broken bones, cuts and bruises, but nothing life threatening. The wounded, including the boy who had been dropped from the sky, were loaded into vehicles that had been parked some distance away when the mob had assembled, and carted off to a local _Hataalii_ who was also an RN. The boy would have to go to a hospital, but the closest one was hours away. Once the _Hataalii_ had him stabilized, someone would drive him to the medical center where his bones could be properly set.  
  
            Yukio found himself working in the dark, looking for pieces and parts of the bats they had killed. Thankfully, he could see perfectly well by starlight. He was covered in blood and gore, and he desperately needed a bath. But the hogan had no running water, and he wasn’t about to use any of the water Ruth had in her cistern to bathe. Someone came up once a week to fill her cistern and barrels, and using her precious supply to wash his hair was unthinkable.  
  
            There was water deep under the ground. He could smell it very faintly so he knew that it was there. His father had already used Tessiaga to blast a hole big enough to shove the dead bats into so maybe he could blast a deeper one and reach some water. It was a crude way to dig a well, but it would work, and maybe then Ruth would have a more reliable source of water on her own property. A potable well would be a great blessing to the surrounding area, especially since most of the hogans relied on water haulers to fill their tanks on a weekly basis.  
  
            He heard his father cursing, grumbling under his breath, as they dumped bloody chunks of dismembered bats into the hole. His mother would purify the lot in the morning and destroy the remains, but for now it was all right just to have all the bodies in one place. He counted 49 in all if the number of heads matched the number of bodies, and that didn’t count the ones Emma had already purified.  
  
            Emma. Emma had miko powers. Emma could now see through his concealment spell. He’d have to decide what to do about Emma later.  
  
            “That’s the last of them,” he said, tossing half a severed, leathery wing into the ditch.  
  
            His father grunted and gave a short nod.  
  
            “I really need a bath. Do you think we can use the swords to reach water?”  
  
            “Better to blast the arroyo not far from here.”  
  
            “But if we blast a deep enough hole, won’t that give Ruth a well?”  
  
            He saw Inuyasha consider it, then nod. “Maybe.”  
  
            His cheek itched so he wiped his face with his forearm, only to realize that it was streaked with blood. “Great.”  
  
            His father snorted. “Hey, it’s war paint.”  
  
            “I am so glad no one was here to hear you say that,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Bath? Please? You know Okaa-san will get upset if we go in there covered in blood, and I doubt it would be considered polite to our hosts. Ruth might even insist on using her water to help us clean up, and I don’t want to do that.”  
  
            Inuyasha nodded. “Yeah. C’mon, the arroyo’s this way.”  
  
            He followed as his father led him from the hogan and walked about half a mile away to the natural drainage ditch carved from the hard soil. The water was much closer to the surface in the arroyo, although he could tell that it was only wet after a rain. Still, it wouldn’t be too hard to reach the water table, and they could probably get it with two or three good blasts from the swords.  
  
            He stood back as Inuyasha drew Tessaiga and swung it at the lowest point on the drainage channel.  
  
            “Kaze no Kizu!”  
  
            The blast hit the hard ground and cracked it. He followed-up with a blast of his own from Kenshuga, and made a deep gouge in the bottom of the arroyo. They both could smell the water coming up to the surface.  
  
            “One more ought to do it,” he said and his father grunted in agreement.  
  
            “Kaze no Kizu!”  
  
            After the third blast, the water started out as a trickle, but soon increased until it was pouring from the earth at a decent rate. It was no long-lasting stream, but it would provide enough water for them to wash, and maybe for a few days after. He jumped down into the gulch and began to strip off his filthy clothes. His father joined him and soon they were both standing in the calf-deep creek, sluicing the frigid water over their bodies.  
  
            “Gah, that’s cold,” he complained, but didn’t stop as he scrubbed the blood from his arms using some fine gravel.  
  
            “No colder than the streams at home,” his father commented.  
  
            “True.” The streams at home could actually be quite a bit colder, especially in winter. “But what I wouldn’t give for an onsen right about now.”  
  
            “Keh. I thought you were made of stronger stuff.”  
            He snickered. “Hey, **_you_** were the one who couldn’t take the heat half the time. I remember when Okaa-san would take me into the onsens with her while you complained the water was too hot.”  
  
            “Keh! You and her, cooking yourselves.”  
  
            “The hotter the better,” he quipped.  
  
            He bent down and scooped the water over his head, rubbing his scalp vigorously and rinsing out his hair. It reeked of bat blood and entrails.  
  
            “Ugh, I need my shampoo and some clean clothes,” he said, washing his face.  
  
            “We should probably burn the ones we were wearing,” Inuyasha replied. “We’ll never get the smell out of them.”  
  
            “Yeah,” he agreed.  
  
            A bright light suddenly shined down on them and he was momentarily blinded. He heard his father curse so he was fairly certain that Inuyasha couldn’t see either. He snarled, and was about to spring, when the light abruptly shut off.  
  
            “There you are. We heard loud bangs, but when neither of you came back to the hogan, we got worried,” Emma’s voice said.  
  
            He shook away the white spots and made his eyes focus on the Cree woman who was now looking down at them. He knew it was dark, so he wasn’t sure how much she could see from her vantage point, but still, he found that he didn’t care all that much what she saw. His father broke the silence with his usual tact.  
  
            “Feh, We’re fine. Why don’t you make yourself useful and go get us some clean clothes, woman?”  
  
            Knowing that they were both standing there naked in the water, it was probably a good suggestion, but it could have been framed with a little more politeness. Then again, she was just standing there staring at them.  
  
            “Of course,” she answered after a few beats.  
  
            “Could you please bring my bag?” he asked. “I’d like my shampoo so I can wash my hair.”  
  
            “Sure. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”  
  
            “Thanks.”  
  
            “Feh,” his father snorted after she was gone. “You do know that if your mother had ever caught me peeping at her like that, I’d have been sat until every bone in my face was broken.”  
  
            “She probably couldn’t see anything with us down in this gully anyway.”  
  
            “Right.”  
  
            “Hey, all we can hope is that she enjoyed the view,” he joked.  
  
            “Speak for yourself. These modern women are too brazen for my tastes.”  
  
            His father finished bathing quickly, but he was in no hurry. In a way it was a kind of challenge. If Emma wanted to look at him, or was embarrassed, that was her problem. Right now he was exhausted, beat up, and covered in gore. If some silly mortal woman wanted to ogle him while he bathed, he really didn’t give a damn as long as she brought shampoo.  
  
            Inuyasha was just pulling on his dirty jeans when his head swiveled up and his ears came forward. “She’s back.”  
  
            He grunted. He knew his father had smelled her first because he was the one out of the arroyo. A moment later his shampoo and a bar of soap were tossed down to him. He grabbed them and looked up to see his father on the edge of the gully with Emma standing next to him.  
  
            “Thanks,” he called up.  
  
            Inuyasha nodded. “I’ll meet you back at the hogan.”  
  
            “Okay. I’ll be along shortly,” he replied and began lathering up his hair.  
  
            He washed it twice, and was rinsing, when he realized that Emma was still there. She was sitting on the edge of the crevasse his father and he had gouged, looking down at him. He snorted.  
  
            “If you brought my conditioner, could you toss it down?” he asked.  
  
            He heard her rummaging for something and soon a bottle was falling towards him. He snatched it out of mid-air and opened it, pouring a palmful of the thick cream into his hand and working it into his hair.  
  
            “If you’re expecting me to be embarrassed, you should know that I lost my modesty a couple of centuries ago,” he commented when he saw that she hadn’t moved.  
  
            “That’s good to know. I’m just watching your back. You’re unarmed and naked down there,” she replied, a note of annoyance in her voice.  
  
            “Did you bring the rifle?”  
  
            “Yeah.”  
  
            He nodded and used the soap to scrub his body again.  
  
            “Just so you know, you look pretty good for your age,” she said after a while.  
  
            It was an attempt at humor, but he could hear the nervousness in her tone. He laughed.  
  
            “I work out.”  
  
            “I can see that.”  
  
            There was a long pause before she spoke again.  
  
            “I can see you, you know,” she said, and he knew that she meant she could see through the spell. Well, she could if he had been wearing his ring, but he wasn’t. He doubted she could see that, though, but he knew what she meant.  
  
            “I know.”  
  
            He rinsed his hair and body, heartily glad that he was clean again. He hated reeking of blood and battle. It only stirred his demon blood and made him long for things he couldn’t have. He knew his father felt it more keenly because his demon blood had been released, and he wouldn’t be surprised to find out that his parents had gone off together once he got back to the hogan. Part of his demon turned its head towards the young human female with a pique of interest, but he stomped it down with both feet and dunked his head in the cold water again.  
  
            _‘I really wish she would go back to the hogan…’_ he sighed.  
  
            “You don’t have to stay, you know. There isn’t any danger,” he said.  
  
            “I don’t want to be confined right now. I might even sleep outside,” she replied.  
  
            “It will get cold.”  
  
            “Ruth has blankets I can borrow.”  
  
            He shook himself off and leaped out of the gully. Emma had already laid out a set of fresh clothing for him and he picked it up gratefully.  
  
            “Thanks,” he said, pulling on the jeans.  
  
            When he was dressed, he strapped Kenshuga back to his waist and put on his signet ring even though he knew it wouldn’t work on her, then he sat down next to her and they both looked at the flowing stream.  
  
            “The swords did that?” she asked.  
  
            “Yeah.”  
  
            “I… I’ve never seen swords that could blast energy like that.”  
  
            “They’re demon forged. They have all kinds of different powers. My father’s Tessaiga has multiple attacks as does my Kenshuga.”  
  
            “The swords have names?”  
  
            “Yeah.”  
  
            “When you pulled it out, it grew. I saw it.”  
  
            “Yeah, it transforms when I’m going into battle.”  
  
            She gave him a small smile. “I’m sure there’s a lewd reference in there somewhere but I’ll ignore it.”  
  
            He chuckled, then he caught her staring at him when she thought he wasn’t looking. He met her gaze with a look of sympathy and understanding.  
  
            “I can only imagine what you are feeling right now.”  
  
            She frowned and looked away. “Confused, mostly.”  
  
            “Yeah.”  
  
            “I mean… I wasn’t trying to do anything. I just saw those… things and grabbed the rifle. Then when I fired…”  
  
            “The bullets purified the bats. Yeah, I know. You came into your power the same way my mother did. Her miko talent woke when she was grabbed by a centipede youkai. She didn’t know what was happening either,” he admitted. “Most mikos develop their skills slowly with training so by the time they have to fight, they know what to expect and do. But a few with hidden talent manifest the Gifts suddenly, usually when they are under duress.” He looked at her, his eyes soft. “It can come as quite a shock.”  
  
            He saw her swallow and nod. “Yes.”  
  
            “But the good news is you’re here with us and my mother can help you understand what is happening to you. You should ask her to be your teacher. If she doesn’t feel she can do it, I am sure my sister, Mariko, would be willing to help.”  
  
            “Will I always be able to see demons like this?”  
  
            “Unless they are trying very hard to hide themselves, and use stronger concealment spells, yeah. Most of us living in the human world just use the standard glamours. We don’t really need anything more than that.”  
  
            “So… I’ll see demons wherever I go.”  
  
            “And spirits. You’ll be able to sense magic, demonic energy, holy objects and places. That’s why it’s important that you have someone to guide you. Untrained mikos can go crazy, especially if they don’t realize what is happening to them.”  
  
            Emma made a face. “That’s good to know.”  
  
            He looked at her, his face serious. “Your life is about to change in a drastic way.”  
  
            She nodded. “I think it was destined. I think I knew it was going to change the moment my cousin called me. I’ve felt… anxious, and now I don’t. I feel… relieved.”  
  
            Her words surprised him at first, but then he remembered her fighting spirit and it didn’t seem so far-fetched. He made a grunt of agreement, but said nothing.  
  
            “May I touch them?” she asked suddenly.  
  
            “Eh?” he answered, blinking at her.  
  
            “Your ears. May I touch them?”  
  
            He grinned and lowered his head down so she could see his ears more closely. A moment later he felt her fingers stroking the sensitive edges and he shivered.  
  
_‘This was a bad idea…’  
  
_             “They’re so soft.”  
  
            He pulled his head away, trying to clear his vision, and put some distance between them. It would be too easy to let himself sink into the needs of the moment and end up doing something he would seriously regret later.  
  
            “Yeah. I dunno what it is about the ears. The first thing my mother did when she met my father was tweak his ears.”  
  
            She gave him a small smile. “Well, they are irresistible.” Her brow creased. “But it’s odd… I didn’t see a tail.”  
  
            He sputtered. “Wh-what?”  
  
            “You don’t have a tail.”  
  
            “Of course I don’t have a tail!”  
  
            She seemed offended by his offense. “It’s a perfectly logical thing to believe. If you have dog ears why not a dog tail as well?”  
  
            “What do you think I am? Some wimpy wolf?” he sneered, then suddenly realized that he was channeling his father. Kouga had a tail, all the wolf-youkai had tails, but none of the inu-youkai or the inu-hanyous had ever been born with tails.  
  
_‘Although Uncle does have his mokomoko-sama…’  
  
_             “Wimpy wolf?” Emma repeated, a hint of humor in her voice.  
  
            “Sorry, old rivalry. But no, we don’t have tails,” he apologized.  
  
            She gave him a coy look. “That’s a shame. It might have been fun to play with.”  
  
            He snorted. “Just because I let you tweak my ears does not mean I’d let you play with my tail… if I had one.”  
  
            She laughed and looked away. “Of course not.”  
  
            He frowned, stamping down a growl. The demon in him recognized her play and was responding. It knew she had been interested in him before and was urging him to see if the interest still remained.  
  
            _‘She’s freaked out and looking for reassurance. We were friendly before so it’s only natural for her to turn to me,’_ he rationalized.  
  
            “We should be getting back. I’m sure my father is wondering where we are, and I know there are things we have to discuss,” he said, grabbing his bag and soiled clothes.  
  
            “Yeah,” she agreed and rose to her feet, picking up the rifle as she went.  
  
            They walked back to the hogan in silence, and he was grateful that he didn’t have to carry on a conversation. In truth he was probably just as confused as she was right now. Prior to the battle, he’d thought the situation with them was settled. He’d impressed upon her how old he was, and she had seemed to be sufficiently put off by it, but now she appeared to be reassessing her position.  
  
            _‘I’m exotic. I’m intriguing. I’m unattainable. Plus I’m cute and sexy…’_ He sighed and pushed down his arousal and longing again. _‘Maybe I am lonely...’  
  
_             “Is something wrong?” Emma asked him. Maybe she had heard his sigh and small whine.  
  
            “No,” he replied a little more sharply than he had intended to.  
  
            There was no point to it, was there? She was human and had already shown aversion to his age. If he were to make overtures, it could only end badly. Besides, he’d been down that road before and it had nearly destroyed him. He was happy living with his parents. He was overjoyed to help raise his little brother and work with his father. He was fulfilled and content…  
  
            The twinge in his groin said otherwise, but that was just the battle lust and the close proximity to a marginally willing female. He had no idea what she would do if he actually did make a move on her. If she rejected him, it truly would be over, fantasy and all.  
  
            “About time you two got back,” his father complained, meeting them as they approached the hogan. His mother was with him, and they were both looking stressed.  
  
            “Sorry. I had to wash my hair twice,” he answered, ignoring Inuyasha’s raised eyebrow.  
  
            :That all, pup?: his father barked.  
  
            :Nothing happened. Beta-male did not take a new mate.:  
  
            Inuyasha snorted but did not reply. His mother did give him a sad look, however.  
  
            “Your mother and I are going to do a sweep of the area. Make sure there aren’t any other surprises out there.”  
  
            _‘In other words, you and she are going to go off together so you can work off the last of the battle lust,’_ he translated. He didn’t blame them. If he had a mate, or a weaker will, he would have done the same thing.  
  
            “You stay here and guard the hogan. We’ll be back soon.”  
  
            He nodded. :Beta-male obey.:  
  
            “Good.”  
  
            He watched as his parents got into the Jeep and drove off.    
  
            “They seemed in a hurry to get out of here,” Emma commented shrewdly.  
  
            “They just want to make sure there aren’t any more threats,” he covered.  
  
            “Mmm hmm. Okay. Whatever you say.”  
  
            “You think I’m lying?” he countered.  
  
            “No. I know you don’t lie. You’re just not telling me everything.”  
  
            He opened his mouth to speak but she put up a hand.  
  
            “You told me I would feel things, right?”  
  
            He nodded. “Yes.”  
  
            “Well, what I was feeling off of them right now had nothing to do with looking for threats.”  
  
            He sighed. “No,” he admitted, defeated. He looked at the fading trail of dust left by the Jeep. “After a fight… we’re highly sensitive and we… feel the battle lust. We need to work off the last of it so we can calm down.”  
  
            “So… they’ve gone to work it off?”  
  
            “Yeah, something like that.”  
  
            “What about you? You’re feeling it too.”  
  
            He looked at her, trying to read her unspoken messages, and trying to figure out how he ought to respond. He narrowed his gaze and breathed deep, deep enough for her to hear that he was sniffing her scent. The demon in him roiled as he smelled her excitement, and he took a small step towards her, inhaling again. He heard her small gasp, heard her pulse quicken. He took another step. The scent was intoxicating. His blood lust was rising, scratching to be set free. He growled low in his throat. Not a growl of warning, but one of longing. So close…  
  
            Fear spiked through her scent. It was only for a moment, but it was enough to pierce through his red haze. He snorted and shook his head, clearing his mind and sending the demon back to its cage, howling in frustration.  
  
            “I’ve been alone a long time,” he finally managed to say. “I’m used to dealing with it on my own.”  
  
            Conflicted emotions crossed her face and swirled through her scent. “Yukio…”  
  
            “You should go inside. I’ll stay out here and guard the door until my parents get back,” he told her, cutting her off.  
  
            She reached to touch him but he stepped away.  
  
            “That’s not a good idea right now.”  
  
            “Yukio, it’s okay…”  
  
            “No it’s not,” he snapped, lifting one lip to bare a fang. It was enough to make her pause.  
  
            “Yukio…”  
  
            “Go.”  
  
            It was an order, and he saw her think she might disobey, but then she looked at him and changed her mind.  
  
            “Okay. If that’s what you want,” she finally said and slipped into hogan without another word.  
  
            When she was gone, he slumped against the wall and slid down to the ground.  
  
_‘What I want is for you to stop torturing me.’  
  
_             He placed Kenshuga across his lap in its sheath as he gripped the hilt tightly in both hands. He was still there when his parents returned about forty minutes later. His father took one look at him and shook his head. His mother said nothing, but knelt next to him, and he allowed himself the comfort of resting his forehead on her shoulder. He didn’t care that she smelled of his father or what they had been doing. Right now he needed her comforting arms around him because she had been one of the few constants in his life, and he needed her to anchor him when the rest of him was washing away.  
  
            :Mother-female,: he barked softly.  
  
            :Good pup,: she replied.  
  
            He sighed and closed his eyes. His father stood by, one hand resting protectively on Tessaiga’s hilt. It was a stance he was well familiar with. Gruff and aloof, Inuyasha rarely showed his true feelings, but the fact that he was guarding and watching over them told him everything he needed to know.  
  
            “I’m okay,” he said finally.  
  
            His father grunted once and took a step back, allowing him the room to rise to his feet.  
  
            “Is everyone else still inside?” his mother asked.  
  
            “Yeah.”  
  
            “Let’s go in then. I am sure you’re hungry. Your father is starving.”  
  
            He frowned. Ruth had so little and he knew their appetites were huge.  
  
            “I’m not sure pizza delivery guy will come all the way out here…” he began.  
  
            His mother cut him off with a wave of her hand.  
  
            “While the two of you were dying of indigestion, I went to the market and stocked up. The supplies were in the minivan with Billy and Lori, and I transferred them to Michael’s Jeep at the trading post.”  
  
            His ears perked up. “Ramen?”  
  
            She gave him a sweet smile. “And potato chips, among other things.”  
  
            He gave a happy whoop and hugged his mother tight. “Okaa-san you are the best Kaa-san in the whole world!”  
  
            “Well, I couldn’t have a repeat of last night, now could I?” she explained when he released her.  
  
            He gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek. “Where is it? Is it still in Michael’s Jeep?”  
  
            “As far as I know. Unless someone took it out while we weren’t here.”  
  
            He ran over to the Navajo man’s vehicle and sniffed at the back window. The unmistakable scent of ramen and fried potatoes hit his nose, and he jimmied the door handle. Thankfully for Michael, he’d left his Jeep unlocked or he would have had to replace the rear windshield glass.  
  
            He flipped open the rear hatch and lunged for the boxes full of food. _‘Ramen, chips, canned franks and beans, corned beef hash, mac n’ cheese, canned beef raviolis, Doritos… Okaa-san, I love you! Oh! She even bought a jumbo can of Spam!’  
  
_             “Oi, pup! Hand that food over here and I’ll carry it inside,” his father said.  
  
            He grabbed the box with the ramen and held it close to his chest. “I’ve got it. You can get the box full of bottled water.”  
  
            :Insolent pup,: Inuyasha growled.  
  
            “Mine! Mine! Mine!” he yelled with glee as he ran for the hogan. His father, all indignant bluster, was close behind.  
  
  
  
            They used the bottled water to boil water for the ramen. Kagome had bought six cases of the stuff, and he knew he and his father would pack away at least half a case in a single sitting. She had also brought numerous canned goods and staples to give to Ruth. Apparently, she had been talking to Lori about life on the reservation and what would be appropriate gifts to bring as thank you’s for the hospitality. The old woman accepted the gifts and the gallons of bottled water gratefully, and they brewed coffee while he and his father downed bowls of ramen in quick succession.  
  
            His mother cautioned against David drinking anything with caffeine because of the head wound, but the others downed two pots before they called the night to a close.  
  
            “What will you do in the morning?” Sara asked, holding Peter close to her chest and rocking him.  
  
            “Well, we’ll go back to the cave where the Terror Bats were nesting and see if there are any clues as to who brought them here,” his mother replied.  
  
            “Do you think they killed Temeh?”  
  
            Kagome shook her head. “No, but there is more to this than we know. If what the guide told us is true, Temeh’s pack asked for help and none was given.”  
  
            “So that means someone knew about the bats being here,” he commented. “Uncle?”  
  
            His father snorted. “No way. Too close to Vegas.”  
  
            He thought a moment, then realized what Inuyasha was saying. “His son is in Vegas.”  
  
            “Exactly. There’s no way my brother would tolerate a clan of Terror Bats anywhere near his pup.”  
  
            He breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, that is good to know. I would hate to have discovered that he was behind bringing them here in the first place.”  
  
            “Keh! Arrogant bastard would never lower himself to hiring scum like those. Besides, he hates them as much as I do.”  
  
            He nodded and downed another bowl of ramen: his fifth and his father was on his sixth. Fighting always made him ravenously hungry. He poured another, ignoring the alarmed looks he caught Ruth and Sara sending his way. Emma was sitting nearby, but she wasn’t saying anything. He did his best to ignore her, but he saw her looking at him as well when she thought he couldn’t see.  
  
            The food did improve his mood some. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was until he had smelled the cooking ramen, but now that his belly was full, he was calmer and more settled. He looked around the small hogan and saw that it was very crowded. Perhaps it would be best if he slept outside. His mother always kept blankets and emergency supplies in their vehicles, and he was certain that it wouldn’t be too cold for him. And sleeping outside would get him away from Emma’s scent.  
  
            “And once you have found out who brought the bats here, then what?” Sara asked. “What about finding Temeh?”  
  
            “Heh. We find who brought the bats and we’ll find out who asked for help,” his father answered.  
  
            “Then you’ll know where Temeh’s family is and you’ll be able to find out where he is,” the young Navajo said hopefully.  
  
            “That is the operating theory, yes,” he confirmed.  
  
            “We have no doubts that Temeh’s family knew about the bats being here. The silver coyote led us straight to the cave. It’s possible that you haven’t heard from Temeh because his family went into hiding or relocated,” Kagome added.  
  
            “And left me and Peter behind?” the girl questioned.  
  
            “Keh, coyotes are cowards,” his father sneered.  
  
            “That may be true, but not even a coyote would leave his mate and pup behind,” he pointed-out.  
  
            “Do you think they’ve been captured and held prisoner somewhere?” his mother asked.  
  
            His father took a swig from a bottle of water. “Dunno.”  
  
            “This situation is awful,” his mother complained. “I hope we can find answers tomorrow.”  
  
            His father put down his water bottle and wiped his mouth. “We should get some sleep.”  
  
            He rose to his feet. “I’ll sleep outside, Otou-san, and guard the door.”  
  
            Inuyasha grunted in agreement and stood as well. “I’ll go with you. Better for two of us to be out there in case there are any more surprises.”  
  
            He wanted to protest, but his father gave him a look and a baring of teeth that told him the Alpha had decided, and that was that, so he backed down. Ruth gave them two thick Navajo blankets that were more than enough to keep them warm, and they went outside after saying goodnight to his mother.  
  
            Both of them took sitting positions against the hogan wall with their swords within easy reach, and they were silent for a long time as they both kept their senses on high alert.  
  
            “Do you think Uncle was able to muster an attack force quickly enough to get the rest of the swarm?” he asked.  
  
            “Keh!” his father answered. “Knowing that bastard, he called in a private militia.”  
  
            He shrugged. “Well, he does have the resources at his disposal.”  
  
            “Hmph. Well, we’ll know if he got them if they’re not in the cave when we get there tomorrow.”  
  
            “Or if we’re not attacked tonight. If the wind shifts, it could carry the scent of battle and blood that way. You know the bats have a good sense of smell.”  
  
            “Maybe. If they come, we’ll rip them to pieces. Who needs my bastard brother anyway?”  
  
            He chuckled and rested his head against the hogan wall, looking up at the stars. There was almost no light pollution to dilute the view of the heavens, and he remembered a time when the sky was always so dark and beautiful.  
  
            “You know, I love electricity and modern conveniences, but I do miss nights like this,” he commented wistfully.  
  
            “Feh. Just a bunch of blinking lights.”  
  
            “But doesn’t it make you feel small? Wondering if there’s another planet out there in the vastness of space that can support life? That maybe we aren’t the only ones out here?”  
  
            “Best evidence of that is the fact that they haven’t tried to contact us.”  
  
            He laughed. “True. But don’t you ever wonder?”  
  
            “No. I’m a rude, ignorant hanyou, remember? I don’t have any deeper feelings.”  
  
            He snorted. “You are not, and we both know it.”  
  
            His father sighed. “I’m not like your mother. You know that. I don’t question. I like things simple. I don’t like a lot of weird things. Maybe there’s life out there and maybe there isn’t. All I know is that right now I don’t care because it isn’t something I have to deal with. Right now my life is full. I get up in the morning. I go to work. I play with my pups. I love my mate. I have no need to think beyond that unless you give me a reason.”  
  
            “You shouldn’t let people think you are so simpleminded,” he scolded gently.  
  
            “Why not? It’s easier.”  
  
            “Because that isn’t who you are.”  
  
            “So? All the people who matter know different so why should I care what others think? Feh, don’t need ‘em.”  
  
            Now it was his turn to sigh and shake his head. _‘Oh, Tou-san. You’ve been letting others think you are a rough, violent hanyou for so long that you don’t know how to be anything else.’  
  
_             “I’m glad you took after your mother. You have her heart and her mind. No one ever thought you were simpleminded.”  
  
            “I had no need to. You were the one who let them think you were stupid.”  
  
            “Like I said, it was easier.”  
  
_‘Probably safer too. I can’t ever forget that the world my father grew up in was very different from the one I grew up in. If people knew he could think, they would have hunted him that much harder.’  
  
_             “Oi. What’s going on between you and that Cree woman?” his father asked suddenly.  
  
            The question surprised him and he looked over at the older hanyou. “What do you mean?”  
  
            “I caught a weird mood between you.”  
  
            He sighed. “There’s nothing going on between us.”  
  
            There was silence for a while and he thought his father had dropped the subject, but then Inuyasha spoke again and this time it was in his serious voice, the one he reserved for when he was speaking from his heart.  
  
            “She’s not Miaka, son.”  
  
            He blinked. Inuyasha almost never called him “son.”  
  
            “I… I know that, Otou-san.”  
  
            “You’ve been alone a long time.”  
  
            “I’m not alone. I have you and Kaa-san, and Ian,” he argued.  
  
            “It’s not the same. Having a mate is different.”  
  
            “I had a mate,” he shot back defensively.  
  
            “She was never the one for you. She never accepted you for what you were. She made you choose between her and your family. She denied you pups, then made you watch her die. No true mate would ever do such a thing.”  
  
            There had been a time when he would have angrily defended his dead wife, but those days were long past. He’d realized that his bond with Miaka had been one-sided decades ago.  
  
            “Then you understand why I am reluctant to let someone else that close to me,” he tried, appealing to his father’s sense of compassion.  
  
            “Of course I do. But it doesn’t mean that you should shut it completely out of your life. If I had done that, I would never have had the courage to accept your mother’s love.  
  
            “You think your first love ended badly? At least you weren’t tricked by an evil man who bartered his body to demons in order to get to your woman, and at least your first love didn’t spear you through the heart and Seal you to a tree for fifty years. And at least she didn’t die thinking you had been the one who killed her, and died cursing your name.”  
  
            He swallowed. His father rarely spoke of Kikyou’s first death or his time Sealed to Goshinboku.  
  
            “No, she didn’t,” he whispered softly, looking down at his hands.  
  
            “What I’m saying is don’t give it up. I like this one. She’s strong and she’s smart. She’s got guts and she isn’t afraid of you.”  
  
            “Yes, she is,” he countered.  
  
            “Not where it counts. Twice she’s stood by you and fought beside you. She faced a swarm of Terror Bats tonight with newly awakened miko powers. She did that because you were in danger. Don’t mistake her confusion and fear of something new and unknown with true fear. Your mother was afraid of me at first, and you know how that worked out.”  
  
            He nodded. “Yeah.”  
  
            “I just don’t want you to condemn yourself to being alone for the rest of your life. No father wants that for his son. We want our pups to be happy. Maybe this Cree woman is the one and maybe she isn’t, but you’ll never know if you don’t at least give her a chance.”  
  
            He nodded, settled back against the hogan wall, and was silent for several moments. “I’ll think about it.”             
  
            His father grunted and no more was said on the subject. They remained mostly quiet for the rest of the night with the two of them trading off watch while the other napped. Thankfully, the night passed without even a whisper of youki on the wind, and they were both able to get some sleep.  
  
            Morning found them mostly rested, and they woke when Ruth, Michael and Sara came out to perform the Dawn Way, facing the sunrise and greeting the new day. While the Navajos performed their Ceremony, he and his father stood and stretched, working out the kinks from sitting upright all night.  
  
            He couldn’t say which of them smelled it first because they both turned to the south at the same time, noses sniffing the wind. His father started growling even before they saw the moving figure approaching from above. He recognized the feather immediately, but he had no idea what the wind demon was doing there. She came close, her feather floating not far away from them, and it looked like she was planning to land.  
  
            “Kagura!” his father yelled.  
  
            “Yo,” she answered and waved her fan.  
  
            They both jumped back as a small whirlwind of dust blew down and dropped an adolescent coyote-youkai at their feet.  
  



	12. Chapter Eleven

Chapter 11  
  
  
  
            “Kagura, you bitch! What are you doing here? Did my stupid brother send you?” his father yelled, drawing Tessaiga.  
  
            “I was in the area and he asked me to check on things,” Kagura answered coolly from her floating perch. He could see the humor in her red eyes, and he knew she was enjoying taunting his father.  
  
            “Keh! Tell that bastard I can take care of myself!” Inuyasha growled. “I don’t need his help!”  
  
            “Of course not,” the wind demon replied wryly.  
  
            His father snarled, fangs bared, and he decided it was time to intervene.  
  
            “Thank you, Kagura-san. You can tell my uncle that everything is fine here. We were able to destroy the bats that attacked us last night. We will go to their cave today and see if there are any survivors. Rest assured we will tell him if there are any more bats that need to be dealt with,” he called up to her, taking a step forward to block his father’s line of attack.  
  
            “Sure,” Kagura said with a nod.  
  
            “Oi! We don’t need any help!” Inuyasha insisted.  
  
            He ignored his father’s outburst and indicated the young coyote-youkai who was just now sitting up and rubbing the dust out of his eyes.  
  
            “Who is this coyote-youkai, Kagura-san?”  
  
            She shrugged. “I have no idea. I just caught him skulking behind those bluffs over there and decided to let you deal with him.”  
  
            He cast a glance at the youngster, wondering if this could be the famed missing Temeh.  
  
            “Thank you, Kagura-san. We’ll take care of it.”  
  
            “Yeah, whatever. I’m outta here. Later,” she said with a dismissive wave and flew off without a backward glance. His father was still growling.  
  
            “He sent that wind bitch to check up on me,” Inuyasha seethed.  
  
            “I am sure he was just concerned for our safety,” he soothed.  
  
            “Keh! Like that bastard cares. He just wanted to make sure we killed those damn bats so he wouldn’t have to do it.”  
  
            “Maybe so, but…” He trailed off, watching as his father stalked over to the young coyote-youkai and whacked him on the head with his fist. “Otou-san! What are you…”  
  
            “Oi, who the hell are you and what were you doing stalking us?” his father demanded.  
  
            “Ow!” the coyote-youkai yelled, rubbing the bump on his head. “I wasn’t stalking anyone, I…”  
  
            “Temeh!” Sara’s voice cried as she came running over.  
  
            _‘And now the great mystery will be solved…_ ’ he thought with some relief.  
  
            “Sara!” Temeh replied, rising to his feet.  
  
            He watched as the two young lovers met for the first time in many months. Rather than throwing their arms around each other as many would have expected them to do after so long a separation, Sara stood stock still as Temeh came to her. He stopped just inches from her body and raised one hand to place his folded knuckles against her temple. Sara closed her eyes in bliss at the touch, and he heard the young coyote-youkai croon softly under his breath.  
  
            “Sara…”  
  
            “Temeh…”  
  
            Temeh began to sniff her, then nuzzle his nose into her hair, making small sounds of welcome and happiness.  
  
            It hurt him to watch the tender display, the bittersweet pangs of being on the outside looking in. He was happy for them, glad that they had each other and their young love, so full of hope and promise. He could only wish their lives would go better than his had with Miaka.  
  
            “I can smell my son on you,” he heard Temeh whisper and the words hit him like a blow.  
  
            “Oi!” his father growled, interrupting.  
  
            Temeh snarled and went into full protective display. He whirled around to face Inuyasha, his furred tail sticking straight out in aggression and his teeth bared. His father reacted by putting on his own display of fangs and growls, and he thought that it probably didn’t help that the coyote-youkai looked a bit like Kouga only with grey-ish brown hair and fur instead of black.  
  
            :My mate!: Temeh barked.  
  
            :Stupid pup!: his father replied.  
  
            He moved quickly, inserting himself between them and placing one hand on each of their shoulders to push them apart before they came to blows.  
  
            “Enough!” he ordered.  
  
            He wasn’t expecting his father to turn on him.  
  
            With a quick flick of his wrist, Inuyasha grabbed his arm and twisted it, literally flipping him over and reminding him that almost five centuries of living had dulled none of his father’s reflexes.  
  
            “Stay out of this,” Inuyasha growled, then turned to Temeh and laid him out with one punch. “And you! You’d better know who you’re challenging before you pick a fight you can’t win.”  
  
            “Temeh!” Sara cried.  
  
            By now the commotion had roused the others in the hogan and his mother had come running out along with Emma and David. Emma was carrying Peter, clutched close to her chest.  
  
            “Inuyasha! Sit!” his mother yelled.  
  
            His father instinctively cringed, his ears flattening, then snarled, “That doesn’t work any more, bitch!”  
  
            “Don’t call me a bitch!” Kagome yelled.  
  
            “ ** _Everybody calm down!!_** ” he ordered, drawing Kenshuga and raising it over his head.  
  
            Amazingly, they actually listened, and he wondered how much of that had to do with his brief stint as pack leader while his parents were comatose after Ian was born. Remembering that terrible time made him gag and his grip on Kenshuga faltered a bit, but the others didn’t seem to notice his distress as they looked at him. In the silence that followed, Temeh stood and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. He placed himself at Sara’s shoulder in the defensive position, and glared at them angrily.  
  
            “I’ve come for my family,” the young coyote-youkai finally said with bravado.  
  
            They drew ranks around them, surrounding him and Sara, but it was his mother who took the fore and faced the young couple. Sara reached out and put one hand on Temeh’s arm, both to comfort and restrain.  
  
            “You are Temeh?” his mother asked coolly.  
  
            “I am,” the boy answered.  
  
            Emma stepped forward to stand next to Kagome, her arms still holding the pup protectively. “You have much explaining to do.”  
  
            “You are holding my son,” Temeh accused, baring his upper fangs.  
  
            _‘For all his youth, this kid has balls,’_ he thought, amused. _‘But if that’s so, where the hell has he been for 2 months?’  
  
_             “Temeh… These people don’t mean us any harm,” Sara said gently.  
  
            “That’s right. We came here to help Sara and her pup,” he added, moving to stand next to Emma and his mother.  
  
            The young coyote-youkai looked at them and his brave front faltered a bit.  
  
            “But you don’t understand. We have to get out of here. It’s too dangerous…” Temeh began, his attitude switching from anger to worry.  
  
            “Why? Because there’s cave full of Terror Bats about thirty miles from here?” his father snapped.  
  
            Temeh blanched, his eyes opening wide. “How did you know about that?”  
  
            “Because we spent most of last night killing them!” Inuyasha answered.  
  
            Temeh blinked and looked at them. “You killed them? All of them?”  
  
            He stepped forward. “We think so, yes. We were going to go to their cave today to make sure there weren’t any left.”  
  
            “But how… There were so many. When we tried to fight them, they attacked our hacienda. They killed my cousins,” Temeh told them, his voice frightened.  
  
            The mood quickly softened and his mother looked to Ruth who was standing beside her. The old woman gave her a nod, then his mother put out her hand and invited Temeh into the hogan.  
  
            “Why don’t you come inside and tell us what happened.”  
  
            “I want to see my son,” the youngster demanded, some of his bravado returning.  
  
            Sara looked at Emma pleadingly and the Cree woman nodded, her eyes soft and understanding. She offered Peter to her and the girl came up to take her pup into her arms. Then she turned and presented the infant to Temeh. The young father touched his pup reverently as Peter cooed and gave soft barks of welcome.  
  
            It was another touching scene that made his heart pang, very reminiscent of the night his father had all but forced his way into the nursery at the hospital to take Ian. He remembered how his father had approached the crib with reverence and taken Ian into his arms for the first time. The image was burned into his mind with Technicolor clarity.  
  
            “I named him Peter,” Sara said, snapping him out of his memories.  
  
            “Peter. That’s a good name. I’m… I’m sorry I wasn’t here…” Temeh whispered sadly.  
  
            Sara drew her pup close, a flash of anger in her eyes. “Temeh, where have you been?”  
  
            “I wanted to come, but I couldn’t. They locked me up and I couldn’t get out. Kohteh was finally able to steal the key for me and I escaped four days ago. We’ve been running here ever since,” Temeh answered, agonized.  
  
            “Who locked you up?” his father demanded.  
  
            “My parents.”  
  
            “Why did they lock you up?” his mother asked.  
  
            “Who is Kohteh?” he added.  
  
            Temeh turned his head and nodded towards the bluff overlooking the hogan. The silver coyote who had led them to the Terror Bats’ cave was sitting there, but a second silver coyote was now beside him, panting and looking bedraggled.  
  
            “That’s Kohteh. He’s my guardian. His brother, Kohmeh, stayed behind to guard Sara when my parents moved us to California.”  
  
            “California? You ran all the way from California?” his mother gasped. “On foot?”  
  
            “I hopped a couple of freight trains, but I’ve been on foot since yesterday.”  
  
            He huffed, feeling guilty. He’d assumed the youngster’s haggard appearance had been due to his getting picked up and dumped by Kagura. As it was, getting snagged by the wind demoness had probably been the easiest part of his trip.  
  
            “Then you must be exhausted and starving. Come into the hogan and get something to eat and drink. You can tell us everything in there,” his mother said kindly.  
  
            “Why don’t you tell me who you all are first?” Temeh replied.  
  
            He almost laughed. Temeh was woefully out numbered and out matched, but he was still making demands. He could just imagine him and his silver-furred guardian hopping freight trains and crossing the arid land to get to his chosen mate. It was something he would have done, and he wouldn’t have let anyone stand in his way either.  
  
_‘I don’t care what my father says about coyote-youkai. This kid is no coward.’  
  
_             “Temeh, this is my grandmother, Ruth, and my brother Michael,” Sara explained, indicating the old woman and young Navajo. “Then there’s David, he is a friend of Michael’s from school and his cousin, Emma, from Canada.”  
  
            “And I am Kagome, and this is my mate, Inuyasha, and my son, Yukio,” his mother added.  
  
            Temeh looked wide-eyed at them. “Inuyasha? I thought she had called you Inuyasha. Are you **_the_** Inuyasha? The one whose brother is…”  
  
            _‘And our reputation precedes us…’_ “The Lord of the West,” he confirmed. “Sesshoumaru is my uncle, yes.”  
  
            “I challenged you?” the youngster gasped, his face pale. “What was I thinking?”  
  
            “Keh. Not much, stupid pup,” his father snorted, but there was a gleam of pride in his eyes.  
  
            His mother chuckled. “Come inside. There’s cornbread…”  
  
            “And ramen,” he added.  
  
            “Ramen? You have ramen?” Temeh asked, his eyes lighting up.  
  
            Kagome rolled her eyes. “What is it with these canines and their cheap, salty noodles?”  
  
  
  
*********  
  
  
  
            “So then I hopped off the train when it stopped at the depot and headed here,” Temeh was explaining between bites of food.  
  
            The poor kid had been starving and had gulped down two bowls of ramen before he’d even sat down.  
  
            They were all gathered in the small home, circled around the table. Seats had been given to Temeh, Ruth, Sara and Kagome, but the rest of them had to find a spot anywhere they could. He and his father were leaning against the wall near the door while Michael stood behind his sister and Emma and David sat on one of the hogan’s beds.  
  
            “When did your family move to California?” his mother asked.  
  
            “About a month ago,” Temeh answered, gobbling down a big hunk of fresh cornbread.  
  
Apparently while Ruth and Sara had been out performing the Dawn Way, Emma had been making breakfast.  
  
            “But I haven’t seen you in two months,” Sara said worriedly.  
  
            Temeh blanched. “I know. I was grounded. My parents Sealed me in the van when we moved so I wouldn’t run off.”  
  
            “They Sealed you into the van?” his mother gasped.  
  
            “You were **_grounded_**?” he repeated.  
  
            “Yeah, well… put a little bit of white powder in some envelopes at the post office and everyone freaks out,” Temeh explained sheepishly.  
  
            “That was **_you?!_** ” Michael blurted.  
  
            “And they grounded you for that?” Sara asked, shocked.  
  
            “Four months,” Temeh admitted.  
  
            “That is **_so_** unfair!” Sara blurted.  
  
            “I know. It wasn’t like anyone got hurt or anything,” the young coyote-youkai complained.  
  
            “You started an Anthrax scare that closed down three city blocks in Tucson!” Michael accused, his hands in his hair.  
  
            He chuckled. “Sounds like something a certain kitsune I know would do.”  
  
            “Yeah, well… they broke my Naruto figure. How am I supposed to have the whole Squad 7 if Sasuke doesn’t have a head?” Temeh countered peevishly.  
  
            He face-palmed himself and shook his head. “No, of course not. How can anyone not have a full set of shinobi. I’d have used **_real_** Anthrax just to get my point across,” he commented sarcastically.  
  
            “They are collectors’ items,” Temeh pointed out sullenly.  
  
            “Oh, that makes it all right then. What the hell were you thinking, stupid idiot?” he chided.  
  
            “He wasn’t thinking. He’s just a pup,” his mother stated, annoyed.  
  
            “I’m not a pup!” Temeh argued, offended. “I just turned 80. I’m adult in my clan’s eyes.”  
  
            “80!” Michael gasped.  
  
            He cast a glance at Emma to see if she had reacted to Temeh’s remark, but her expression gave nothing away. He frowned, wondering what she was thinking now.  
  
            Michael turned to his sister. “Did you know about this?”  
  
            Sara drew Peter close and shook her head. “No, but it doesn’t matter,” she replied.  
  
            “Sara, he’s 80 years old!”  
  
            “80 is the equivalent to a human’s 16, Michael,” Kagome explained. “Youkai age much more slowly than humans do. Technically, he and Sara are the same age.”  
  
            Michael looked aghast, but he held his tongue and looked away.  
  
            Temeh snorted and cast a suspicious eye at Michael. “It doesn’t matter how old I am. I’m an adult now. I can have a mate and family. There’s nothing my parents can do about it.”  
  
            “Do your parents even know that you have a pup?” his mother questioned.  
  
            Temeh looked at Sara and his son and shook his head. “No. I wanted to tell them. My mom would have understood, but my dad… My dad would have freaked. He still will.”  
  
            “Will he hurt Sara or the baby?” Kagome pressed.  
  
            He could see her getting defensive and he set his jaw. If Temeh’s parents rejected Sara and her pup, they might try to kill her and Peter. It had been known to happen in certain conservative clans, but he hadn’t heard of any “honor killings” recently.  
  
            “No. I don’t think so. Maybe he would have tried pay her off or arranged for her to move somewhere far away,” the youngster answered.  
  
            He seemed sincere, so he relaxed a little bit.  
  
            “What will he do?”  
  
            Temeh shrugged. “I dunno. He’ll be mad, but he’ll get over it. Sara’s had the pup so it’s too late for him to do anything about it now.”  
  
            “You were worried that he would have tried to make Sara end the pregnancy,” Kagome stated with resignation.  
  
            The coyote-youkai looked guilty. “The thought had crossed my mind, yes. That was why I wanted to wait until after the pup was born before I told them. Everything was going great until those bats showed up.”  
  
            “Oi, what do you know about those bats?” his father demanded, taking a step towards the table.  
  
            Temeh shuddered and dropped his eyes. “They appeared about eight months ago. We didn’t know what was happening at first. We just knew something had come into the reservation. Our clan leader told us to stay away from the reservation because the Navajos would just blame us for the killings like they always did, and we should keep out of it. But then they started killing humans too and we tried to do something about it.”  
  
            “What did you do?” his mother asked.  
  
            “We sent a representative to our regional council, but we were told that we had no proof that our claims were true.”  
  
            “Regional council?” Emma asked, speaking for the first time since they had come inside.  
  
            They looked at her as if they had forgotten she and David were there. She turned her eyes towards him and cocked her head expectantly. He gave her a nod.  
  
            “The youkai world is ruled by clans and councils. Each area and every large city has its own council of higher ranking youkai who keep the peace, enforce our laws, and settle disputes,” he explained. “Those councils answer to higher councils that control larger territories who are in turn under the jurisdiction of councils that oversee whole countries and continents. The system is hierarchal, but it prevents clan wars and bloody power struggles- most of the time.”  
  
            “After you were told your claims were false, what happened?” Kagome questioned, drawing their attention back to the table.  
  
            “The bats attacked us. They killed our clan leader and my cousins.”  
  
            “So someone in the regional council knew about them and sent them after your clan to shut you up,” his father commented angrily.  
  
            “Yeah, that’s what my father thought,” Temeh agreed.  
  
            “What is happening with your clan now that your leader was killed?” Emma inquired.  
  
            All eyes turned to her again, and he wondered what she was up to by asking so many questions, then he remembered that she was a sociology major.  
  
            ‘ _She’s trying to figure out how my world is divided and organized._ ’  
  
            Temeh shrugged sadly. “There’s lots of infighting to see who will be the next leader. My family is middle-ranked so we’re not in the running, but there’s been a lot of choosing sides and backstabbing. Dad wanted us out of it, especially after what happened with the bats, so he moved us to San Bernardino.”  
  
            “Did your father know who in the regional council sent the bats after you?” Kagome asked.  
  
            The youngster looked stricken and afraid. “He never said, but I heard him talking to my cousins before the bats attacked about a council member named Deveran.”  
  
            “He thought Deveran was behind the bats?” his father pressed.  
  
            “I don’t think he had any proof, but Deveran is a new council member who bought his way in with lots of money and big promises.”  
  
            “Being rich doesn’t automatically mean that you’ll hire demon thugs to kill your enemies and slaughter humans,” he countered defensively.  
  
            “No, but Deveran had made comments about the uranium on the reservations, and he was really mad when the Navajos said no one was allowed to mine on their land,” Temeh added.  
  
            Michael snorted and smacked his fist against the wall. “I knew it. I **_knew_** the uranium mines had something to do with all of this.”  
  
            “And this Deveran knew it was your clan who complained about the bats?” Inuyasha asked, his voice hard.  
  
            Temeh nodded. “He was the one who intercepted Ulin when she went to see the council. He said he would take her message to the others, and he was the one who demanded more proof when she brought her case before the council.”  
  
            “That sounds to me like he had something to hide,” he commented. He’d dealt with the inner politics of his world for too long not to recognize a schemer when he saw one.  
  
            “Keh! If the bastards still need more proof, there’s a mass grave outside with all the proof they could ever want,” his father snorted.  
  
            “What if Deveran tries to cover up the evidence? He’s already killed once. What makes you think he won’t do it again?” Emma commented.  
  
            Temeh looked at her as if she were a mindless idiot. “You really have no idea who these youkai are, do you?”  
  
            Emma blanched and set her jaw, but did not take the youngster’s bait.  
  
            “This is Inuyasha, brother to Sesshoumaru, the Lord of the West, one of the most powerful youkai on the planet. His empire covers the globe…” Temeh began.  
  
            “Not to mention my father holds a seat on the council that controls the Western Hemisphere,” he interrupted.  
  
            “Feh! You want it?” Inuyasha snorted with contempt.  
  
            “The point **_is_** even if Deveran wanted to cover it up, he can’t anymore. Too many youkai much higher than him know about it now and he won’t be able to hide his involvement. And if he **_did_** send the bats against the Navajos and your clan…” he continued, leveling his father with a look.  
  
            “He’ll be lucky to see another sunrise,” his mother finished.  
  
            “Hmph,” his father grunted with a nod.  
  
            He shook his head and turned to Michael. “By involving my family in your situation, you unknowingly brought in a clan who could bring down the youkai who was terrorizing your people. How’s that for luck?”  
  
            Michael gave him a scathing look that told him everything he wanted to know, but he couldn’t blame the young man for his anger. Michael’s entire world had just been set on its ear, and he couldn’t blame the Navajo for being angry about that.  
  
            Ruth spoke for the first time, addressing her granddaughter in Dineh. Sara listened then translated for the rest of them.  
  
            “So, what will happen now?” she asked.  
  
            “First, we go to see if any bats survived. If any did, we kill them,” Inuyasha answered.  
  
            “And after that? Will you try to stop me from taking Sara and my pup?” Temeh questioned.  
  
            He saw his mother look at Sara, and then at Sara’s stricken expression.  
  
            “I think that is up to Sara,” Kagome replied. “Since you are an adult, we can’t stop you, but I do think Sara’s wishes should factor into whatever you decide.”  
  
            “However, if your parents are a threat to Sara and Peter, we can offer you sanctuary until you get your lives together,” he added, not wanting the young couple to think that they were on their own in a hostile world.  
  
            “Where are your parents anyway? Aren’t they looking for you?” his mother asked.  
  
            Temeh snorted and smiled wryly. “Heh. They went to Europe for two weeks. Left me behind locked in my rooms with Seals on the windows. Kohteh was able to steal the key from the housekeeper.”  
  
            Kagome blinked at him. “Doesn’t anyone know you’re gone?”  
  
            Temeh shrugged. “Jemma is old and half-blind. I left a glamour on my bed to make her think I was sleeping. It might take her a couple of days to realize I’m not in there.”  
  
            Inuyasha growled and gritted his teeth. “So you left an old woman to face your parents?”  
  
            The youngster looked surprised. “My parents won’t hurt her. Jemma’s been our housekeeper since before I was born.”  
  
            He saw his parents look at each other and knew exactly what they were thinking. His mother looked expectantly at his father.  
  
            “What?” his father barked gruffly. “What do you expect me to do about it?”  
  
            “We could make sure that she’s okay if they fire her and put her out,” Kagome answered tersely.  
  
            “What would we do with an old, half-blind housekeeper?” Inuyasha argued.  
  
            “We could send her to live with Asame. She always needs someone to tidy up and she’s not fussy,” he offered.  
  
            “You stay out of this,” his father snapped.  
  
            “Look! They’re not going to fire her. I’d never put Jemma in danger. She’s like family,” Temeh insisted, but he could see the shadow of doubt behind the youngster’s eyes.  
  
            “Why don’t we deal with the bats first and save everything else for later?” he suggested.  
  
            “We need to fill the tank in the Jeep. It’s almost empty,” his father replied.  
  
            “Okay. We’ll refuel from the gas cans we have and then go,” he offered.  
  
            Inuyasha shook his head. “No. You stay here and guard the hogan. Your mother and I will go check out the bats’ cave.”  
  
            “And if there’s a whole swarm of them still left?” he countered.  
  
            “Then we come back here to get you and we’ll kill them together,” Kagome answered before his father could speak.  
  
            “Feh,” Inuyasha snorted, but did not contradict her.  
  
            He looked at his parents knowing full well that his father would never leave a fight to come get him. He could only hope that whomever Sesshoumaru had sent to deal with the bats had done his job and killed the rest of the swarm. He also knew that there was no arguing with them, and he also wanted a chance to talk to Temeh without his parents there, so he didn’t try to change their minds.  
  
            “Okay,” he agreed, earning him a raised eyebrow from his mother.  
  
            “Okay. We’ll be back,” his father said as Kagome stood up.  
  
            “Be careful,” he whispered as she passed him on her way out the door to follow Inuyasha.  
  
            She gave him a tender smile. “We’ll be fine. I’m sure Sesshoumaru took care of the rest of the swarm, otherwise they would have come looking for their brothers and followed the blood scent here.”  
  
            He nodded. “Good point.”  
  
            “But there may be something in the cave that links the bats to Deveran or whoever else brought them here,” she commented thoughtfully.  
  
            “True.”  
  
            “Oi! Woman, you coming?” his father called.  
  
            His mother sighed. “Your father bellows.”  
  
            “I heard.”  
  
            “We won’t be gone long. Take care of things here.”  
  
            “I’ll hold down the fort,” he promised.  
  
            She gave him a sad smile that was full of memories. “I know. You always did. Thank you, Yukio.”  
  
            He returned her smile with one of his own and bowed. “Always, Okaa-san.”  
  
            “We love you more than life, you know that, don’t you?” she asked him in Japanese.  
  
            He swallowed and nodded, wondering where her sudden mood shift came from. “Yes, of course I know.”  
  
            “Good. Don’t ever forget that.”  
  
            “I won’t.”  
  
            “Kagome!” Inuyasha yelled.  
  
            “You’d better go before he leaves without you,” he said wryly.  
  
            “Never,” she answered, but slipped out the door.  
  
            He stood in the open doorway and watched them drive off, then waited until they’d disappeared behind the bluffs before turning to Temeh.  
  
            “I’d like to talk to you,” he said.  
  
            “Okay,” the coyote-youkai answered but made no move to rise to his feet.  
  
            “Outside,” he clarified, nodding his head towards the door.  
  
            It looked for a moment like Temeh was going to refuse, and perhaps even question his authority, but he gave a low growl and bared his upper teeth.  
  
            :Obey older male.:  
  
            :Not pack male,: the youngster argued peevishly.  
  
            “Yes, but I’m the one left in charge here, and you’ll have to be a hell of a lot older and stronger before you even have a prayer of beating me,” he warned.  
  
            Temeh huffed but eventually yielded.  
  
            “I’ll be right back,” the coyote-youkai said to Sara as he rose to his feet.  
  
            She looked at him and gave him a concerned glance, but he just nodded in what he hoped was a reassuring way. He let Temeh go out of the hogan ahead of him and closed the door behind them as they both exited.  
  
            “So? What did you want to talk to me about?” the youngster demanded, his arms crossed.  
  
            “I just wanted you to clarify something for me about Sara’s pregnancy.”  
  
            Temeh tried to look nonchalant, but he could smell the sudden spike in the coyote-youkai’s scent.  
  
            “Yeah? What about it?”  
  
            “It wasn’t an accident. I don’t know what you told her about your senses, but there is no way you could not have known that she was fertile. You chose to get her pregnant,” he replied, letting his voice sound mildly accusing.  
  
            “So what if I did?” the youngster snapped back.  
  
            “So what…? Do you have any idea the kind of danger you put her in? Her own father led a mob here last night to kill her and your son,” he snarled.  
  
            Temeh blanched and took a step back. “I didn’t know that.”  
  
            “No. You didn’t. How could you? You were too busy causing a mass panic over a stupid toy,” he scolded, getting angrier by the moment. “While you were off serving your sentence, Sara was here trying to keep her pup alive. She thought the only way to save him was to give him to us. Her brother drove over 1300 miles to bring him to my parents. They took him **_away_** from his mother when he was **_ten days old_** and stuck him in a car **_without a car seat_** , and brought him **_across_** the Canadian border to **_Calgary_**. Sara thought she would **_never_** see **_you_** **_or_** her son ever again.”  
  
            He took a step forward and put his face right into Temeh’s, bristling and glaring.  
  
            “Now you had better have a damn good reason why you put her through that and almost got her and an innocent newborn pup killed. And I for one would love to hear it because from where I’m standing all I see is an immature, irresponsible pup who decided to play grown-up when he should’ve stayed in the den!”  
  
            Temeh had backed against the wall of the hogan, his eyes wide and frightened. In a pique of stymied rage, pain and jealousy, he grabbed the youngster by the throat in a dominant threat.  
  
            “Tell me now why I shouldn’t kill you and take your mate and pup because you obviously don’t deserve them.”  
  
            Temeh squeaked like a snared mouse and submitted, baring his throat and shivering in the tight hold. The youngster’s blatant fear brought him back to himself and he quickly released the terrified youth. He looked at his hand, the nails stained red with Temeh’s blood where they had begun to dig into the soft flesh of the coyote-youkai’s throat, and shuddered.  
  
_‘Shit. What did I almost do?’  
  
_             He was still shaking off the red haze that had clouded his eyes when he heard Temeh gasping for breath. The youngster had collapsed to the ground and was holding his throat with both hands. The sight only made him feel worse, but if he apologized he would only appear weak so he just stood there looking stern instead.  
  
            “I… It’s true…” Temeh admitted when he could speak. “I did do it on purpose.”  
  
            “Why?” he demanded, crossing his arms. If he kept his hands close, then he had a better chance of keeping himself from doing something even worse than he already had.  
  
            “It was the only way for us to be together. My clan is forbidden to associate with Navajos. The Navajos hate us, and the last pup that was sired with a Navajo woman was killed,” the coyote-youkai explained.  
  
            “Then why did you start courting Sara in the first place?”  
  
            “It wasn’t like I planned it! I wasn’t on Navajo land. I was in Winslow. Sara wasn’t even supposed to **_be_** there, but she’d hitched a ride to the pow-wow with her cousin and we met at the dances,” Temeh argued. “I didn’t mean to, but when I met her, I just **_knew_**. I knew she was the one.”  
  
            The youth looked up at him, his expression broken and pleading.  
  
            “I had to have her. I had to be with her. I loved her and she loved me, but my parents would never allow it. So we met in secret. No one in my clan knew about it except Kohteh, and I waited until I came of age. Then I made sure Sara would carry my pup. Once I was an adult and Sara was pregnant, then there would be nothing my family could do about my taking her as my mate.”  
  
            “You played a very dangerous and deadly game,” he growled.  
  
            “Everything was going fine until the bats showed up!” Temeh yelled defiantly. “I planned to be there when the pup was born, then I was going to take Sara and my son to see my parents.”  
  
            “And what would you have done if your parents had refused to accept her? What if they had kicked you out?”  
  
            Temeh stood up, his jaw set in defiance. “Then we would have made a life for ourselves on our own.”  
  
            He looked at the youngster and saw himself for a moment. Temeh was so convinced that Sara was the one, so desperate to keep her in his life that he was willing to go against his family in order to have her. His parents hadn’t spoken out against Miaka when he had wanted to take her for a mate, but he doubted that he’d have listened to anything they’d had to say back then if they had. It wasn’t until nearly a hundred years later that he’d learned his parents had never liked her. He wondered how it would go for this young one, and hoped whatever gods looked over lovesick fools treated Temeh more kindly than they’d treated him.  
  
_‘You poor doomed idiot…’  
  
_             “You’d know how I feel if you had a mate,” Temeh said sullenly.  
  
            The youngster would never know how close he had come to getting shoved right through the hogan wall as the pain lanced right through his heart. No mate. No pup. Nothing. This brazen, arrogant fool had both while he was left bereft and alone. How he hated him in that moment.  
  
            “My mate is **_dead_** ,” he seethed.  
  
            Temeh had the good sense to pale and look guilty. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. You look so young and there’s no female’s scent on you…”  
  
            He swallowed his rage and grief enough to bring his temper under control. “She died a long time ago. I hope your mating goes better than mine.”  
  
            They stared at each other for a few moments. What was there to be said anyway that hadn’t already been said? He was about to suggest that they go back inside when a breeze brought the stench of rotting flesh to them.  
  
            “Damn that stinks…” Temeh complained, sneezing.  
  
            “It’s the bat carcasses. They were never purified.”  
  
            He walked the distance of several yards to the hole he and his father had blasted into the ground, and peered down into it. The hot desert sun had found the corpses and the rock was heating up, turning the grave into an oven. A noxious odor was wafting up out of the hole as the bodies rotted in the heat.  
  
            “We should bury them and preserve the bodies in case there’s an inquiry,” he said.  
  
            “I can’t believe you killed them all. If I had been here when they attacked…”  
  
            He grunted and drew Kenshuga, trying to decide where to strike in order to cause the rock walls to collapse.  
  
            “Thank you.”  
  
            The soft words stopped him and he looked at the youngster. Temeh was still looking at the dead bats, but his arms were limp at his sides in resignation.  
  
            “Huh?”  
  
            “Thank you for killing the bats and guarding my mate. I could never have done what you did.”  
  
            The praise embarrassed him and he snorted, raising Kenshuga over his head.  
  
            “Feh! As if my family would let anything happen to a helpless pup while we had anything to say about it.”  
  
            He swung and the blast of energy shattered the far rock wall, sending hunks of rock and earth cascading down into the mass grave. He swung again at the near wall, and hit that one full on, breaking a rock ledge and making it tumble on top of the bodies.  
  
            “There,” he said, wiping the sweat from his forehead.  
  
            “What is going on? The ground is shaking?” Emma’s worried voice asked, then he heard her cough. “Oh dear God what is that smell?”  
  
            He started, but covered his surprise quickly. He hadn’t heard her approaching over the sound of the falling rock, and the stench of the corpses had masked her scent so he’d had no idea that she was approaching. He turned to face her, Kenshuga still in his hand, and he noticed a gleam come into her eyes when she saw him. He stood up a little straighter and waited for her to come within easy speaking distance. A little snort from Temeh made him growl lowly under his breath, but the young coyote-youkai just looked at him with amusement.  
  
            “You are smelling the rotting bats,” he explained when she was closer.  
  
            She had her arm up across her nose so she was breathing through her sleeve. “I gather that. Oh, that stinks.”  
  
            “I’ve started collapsing the walls, but we’ll need to hand shovel dirt on top of the grave to finish the job.”  
  
            She gave him a curious look. “I thought Kagome and I were going to purify them and get rid of them completely.”  
  
            He shook his head. “I decided that it was best to preserve the bodies in case there was an inquiry.”  
  
            “Oh, good idea.” She sneezed again and turned back towards the hogan. “I saw shovels inside. I’ll go get them.”  
  
            He huffed and watched her go, pleased at her immediate grasp and acceptance of the situation, and he remembered his father’s words to him the night before.  
  
_“She’s not Miaka, son.”  
  
_             _‘No, she isn’t. Miaka would have screamed and run away from rotting corpses. Emma just nods and gets to work doing what needs to be done. Why did I never see Miaka’s flaws before I mated her? Why do I only see them now in hindsight?’_  
  
            He frowned and gritted his teeth, turning back to the grave for another strike.  
  
            _‘Because love makes us blind…’_  
  
            He swung with more force than he intended and blasted the remaining cliff wall into pebbles, causing a landslide of loose earth to pour into the hole.  
  
_‘No matter what, I will **never** be blind again.’_  



	13. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve  
  
            Yukio thought cleaning up the dead bats had been hot, sweaty work, but nothing could compare to the sweltering misery of filling in the mass grave. Once he had collapsed the walls as much as he could, the rest had to be done using hand shovels. Emma had found three shovels in the hogan, and she and Michael worked alongside him as they dumped loads of loose earth into the hole. Even Ruth took a shift (against his wishes) and worked just as hard as someone half her age.  
  
            Temeh and he switched off the job of providing more loose earth to be shoveled into the grave by taking turns digging with their claws. Both he and the young coyote-youkai had practically unbreakable talons on their hands, and digging was much easier for them than trying to use a metal shovel. All the same, it took nearly an hour to cover the bodies enough to stop the stench and protect the evidence.  
  
            Through it all, Emma worked beside him, pulling her weight without a word of complaint. She was sweating and covered in dust, but she kept shoveling, refusing to let David do any work because of his head wound and waving off Sara when she wanted to do her share of the digging. It was something he would have done, and he admired her work ethic. Then he began to wonder if she was trying to earn his favor by showing him that she was an equal, and he got the impression that perhaps his mother had said something to her about how she could go about catching his interest.  
  
            He scowled. It would be just like his mother to try to interfere in subtle ways, and he wondered what Kagome would have said to the Cree woman to advise her.  
  
_‘Probably to do just what she is doing: work beside me, show me her strength, show me her commitment. Yeah, that’s what I’d tell someone who’d want to court me.’_ He frowned even more. _‘Damn.’  
  
_             He looked over at her, noting the determined set of her jaw as she worked. There was a rivulet of sweat rolling down her temple, and he watched her wipe it away without missing a beat. She gave him a quick look, a puzzled expression on her face, but he waved away her concern with a shake of his head. She nodded and went back to work.  
  
            He grunted and shoved his anger at his mother aside. She only had his best interests at heart, but it still rankled him. First his father last night, and now his mother, meddling in his private life when he just wanted them to leave him alone and let him work things out for himself. He growled and attacked a helpless pile of rock with his claws.  
  
            When they were done, they all went down to the arroyo he and his father had blasted the night before and were happy to find that the water was still flowing. He jumped down into the crevasse and began handing up bucketfuls of water for the others to use in washing. Ruth took a dipper and tasted the water, declaring it good water with a smile. After they washed, they filled her 55-gallon water drums as high as they would go, and there was talk of trying to make the water source more permanent.  
  
            “I need to go get my pack,” Temeh said when they were finished filling the drums.  
  
            “Okay, where is it?” he asked, wiping his face and chest dry after a quick partial bath.  
  
            The youngster looked to the west. “I’m not sure. I dropped it when that wind bitch nabbed me.”  
  
            He swallowed the laugh and bit his cheek to keep himself from smiling because Temeh had sounded so much like his father just then.  
  
            “Can’t be too far then,” he commented.  
  
            “No. I wasn’t that far away.”  
  
            A sharp yip caught their attention and they both looked up to see the twin silver coyotes appear over the bluff. One was dragging a worn black backpack while the other limped behind, his head down and his tongue lolling out.  
  
            “My pack!” Temeh gasped and smiled.  
  
            “That one is injured,” he pointed out.  
  
            The youngster nodded sadly. “Kohteh hurt himself when we jumped off the last train.”  
  
            “I’m sure he’s hungry and tired.”  
  
            “He kept up with me the entire trip even though I knew he wanted to rest,” Temeh admitted.  
  
            The twins came closer, warily eyeing the Navajos as they approached. Michael had both hands clenched but otherwise did not comment. Temeh went to the uninjured coyote and took the pack, then he opened the bag and pulled out a pound of coffee, a bag of blue cornmeal and a slab of salt pork. These gifts he brought to Ruth and he offered them to her as he knelt on one knee.  
  
            “For my mate’s grandmother, honored wise woman,” the young coyote-youkai said with more respect than Yukio had yet to hear from the youngster.  
  
            Michael gasped and started to protest when his grandmother nodded and moved to accept the offerings, but Ruth stopped his objections with a few sharp words. He was about to look for Emma to ask her what the Navajo matriarch had said, when he noticed that she was standing right next to him. He blinked and wondered exactly when she had gotten there and why his senses hadn’t been alerted to her presence.  
  
_‘Already assimilating her into my circle of who I consider to be part of the pack,’_ he thought with some concern before he asked her _,_ “What did she say?”  
  
            “I’m not sure of the exact translation because my Dineh isn’t the best, but I think she said something to the effect that she’s too old for superstitions,” she answered.  
  
            He laughed and smiled. _‘So much like Kaede. She didn’t believe in old superstitions either.’_ “I knew there was a reason I liked her.”  
  
            “She is a force to be reckoned with,” Emma agreed.  
  
            “Heh, I’ve known a few of them in my lifetime.”  
  
            “No doubt your mother is one of them,” she quipped.  
  
            _‘Don’t I know it…’_ “Uh, yeah. You could say that.”  
  
            Ruth accepted the gifts and placed one hand on Temeh’s head. She said something that he guessed was a blessing or an expression of gratitude because Temeh nodded and rose to his feet.  
  
            The injured silver coyote whined softly and lay down on the dusty ground.  
  
            “Temeh,” Emma said. “If your beast will allow it, I’ll see what I can do about his injuries.”  
  
            The young coyote-youkai looked at her, then at Kohteh and frowned. “Kohteh won’t hurt you,” he replied.  
  
            Emma nodded and he watched her approach the animal. The coyote gave all the signs of complete submission as she knelt next to it and began examining its wounds. He saw that her touch was gentle and competent as she lifted each paw, giving each one a careful look. Kohteh whimpered when she touched the right forepaw and jostled the ankle joint.  
  
            “This poor animal’s paws are raw and bleeding, and this one ankle is sore,” Emma stated. “I’ll need to clean the wounds and treat them.”  
  
            “There’s a first aid kit in the hogan and I have some Dééd dáá’ and Pinõn salve too,” Sara answered.  
  
            Emma rose to her feet, wiping her hands on her jeans. Kohteh stayed on the ground, his chin resting on his paws. “That will do. Where can I find it?”  
  
            “I’ll get it for you. I have to feed Peter anyway,” the young mother offered.  
  
            Emma nodded and followed Sara into the hogan. She came back out a moment later carrying a first aid kit and a jar of salve. Yukio could see the indecision on Temeh’s face when Sara remained inside, and he could understand the youngster’s feelings.  
  
            “If Kohteh won’t give us any trouble if you’re not here, you can go in with Sara. I am sure she would appreciate the time alone with you,” he told the distressed young father.  
  
            Temeh raised an eyebrow, then gave him a grateful half-smile. “Thanks. He won’t be any trouble. He knows you’re trying to help him.”  
  
            “Okay then. Go on inside,” he said.  
  
            The youngster gave him a nod and slipped into the hogan while Emma treated Kohteh’s paws with the salve and bandages.  
  
            “How bad is he?” he asked, watching Emma as she handled the wounded silver coyote with a gentle touch.  
  
            “Not bad. The ankle worries me most, but I don’t think it’s broken,” she replied.  
  
            :Pack male paw broken?: he questioned Kohteh in inu-youkai speech.  
  
            :Paw hurts. Bone not broken. Pack female touch is good,: came the answer.  
  
            He gave a snort of agreement and turned to Emma. “He says the paw isn’t broken.”  
  
            “That’s good. If it had been, the break would have been in a bad place. As it is, his pads are all ripped up. I can’t believe the two of them traveled all that way on foot.”  
  
            _‘I can. She’s his mate, and they have a pup. I’d have run twice that far if I had to.’_ But he didn’t admit that to Emma, rather he just nodded and tried to come up with an appropriate response. “The bond between mates is very strong. He did what he had to do.”  
  
            “Yes. I can respect that. The bonds of marriage are very strong for my people as well,” she told him as she finished up.  
  
            He had no answer for that so he said nothing.  
  
            He heard the vehicle approaching before anyone else, and he turned his head towards the sound, sniffing the air and trying to identify what was coming.  
  
            “What is it?” Emma asked.  
  
            “Something’s coming. A late model 4x4 from the sound of the engine,” he answered.  
  
            “What’s going on?” Michael questioned, noticing Yukio’s alert posture.  
  
            “Yukio says a vehicle is coming,” Emma said.  
  
            Sure enough, a few moments later an old International Scout came lumbering up the path. It was a testament to the Scout’s owner that the ancient 4x4 was still running since it had to be close to thirty-five years old, but it moved along at a fair pace and didn’t smell too bad. He was even more surprised to see that the driver was at least twice that age, and that none other than Lori Piestewa was in the passenger seat.  
  
            “Hm,” he muttered, snorting.  
  
            “Do you know who it is?” Emma asked him  
  
            He shook his head. “No, but Lori is with him.”  
  
            “Lori?” Michael repeated.  
  
            He nodded.  
  
            “Hm,” the young Navajo grunted curiously.  
  
            “My thoughts exactly,” he commented.  
  
            They waited as the old Scout came to a brake-grinding halt not fare from the hogan. He took point, placing himself at the front of the group and in the defensive position just in case the newcomer meant trouble. He noticed (with not a little chagrin) that Emma placed herself on his right side and Ruth stepped up to his left while David and Michael stood behind.  
  
            His inu-youkai senses began tingling the moment a bent old man stepped out of the Scout, and his suspicions were confirmed when Emma gasped and stepped closer to him. He took a small step back, detecting the spike of fear in her scent.  
  
            “That man,” he heard her whisper, her voice edged with concern.  
  
            “He’s a _hataalii,_ a powerful one,” he finished.  
  
            “What do we do if he wants to hurt you or Peter?” she questioned harshly, her hand coming up to grasp his elbow.  
  
            Her fear made him more protective, and he felt the hackles on the back of his neck rising.  
  
            “No matter what you do, don’t lose focus and don’t let your concern cloud your senses. You told me before that you can feel things now. Stretch your awareness. Tell me how he Feels. Does he Feel like he means harm?” he told her, trying to offer guidance.  
  
            His mother wasn’t there and if this new Medicine Man was there to cause trouble, they’d be at a disadvantage. No matter what his intentions, he was completely human, and Yukio cringed at the prospect of having to fight a human. He prayed that the newcomer came in peace, otherwise he would have some very difficult decisions to make. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that the two silver coyotes had suddenly made themselves scarce, but that didn’t necessarily mean that they could feel something that he couldn’t.  
  
            “I don’t sense anything bad about him,” Emma finally said, and he was glad to hear that she was a little calmer.  
  
            “That’s good. Hold onto that and stay calm,” he instructed.  
  
            She nodded and released his elbow as the old man approached. He noticed that Lori kept herself slightly behind the Medicine Man in the supportive position, and that she did not look particularly comfortable.  
  
            _‘Hm, I wonder what that is all about,’_ he wondered.  
  
            “Yah-tah-hey,” the old man called, waving to them. “Yah-tah-hey-si-kess.”  
  
            He recognized the word for “hello” but the “si-kess” was unknown to him. It was obvious, however, that Ruth understood the greeting perfectly.  
  
            “Yah-tah-hey,” the matriarch replied, stepping forward to meet the newcomer.  
  
            Yukio relaxed when he saw Ruth’s smile and warm welcome to the old man, and their obvious friendship as they met and shook hands. They spoke in Dineh as Ruth guided the _hataalii_ towards where the rest of them were standing. The old man smiled at them but Yukio had no illusions that he could not see right through his concealment spell.  
  
            “I come in peace,” the man greeted jovially, a gleam in his wise eyes.  
  
            “Fushikenwa Yukio, this is Benjamin Dailey,” Michael introduced. “Benjamin is my grandmother’s cousin and he is our family’s _hataalii._ ”  
  
            “Oh, he knows that already,” Benjamin said knowingly. “I’d even guess that he knew I was a Medicine Man the moment I got out of the Scout.”  
  
            Yukio bowed formally, showing his respect. “It is an honor to meet you, Benjamin-san.”  
  
            “But you want to know what I am doing here,” the old man quipped with a wry smile.  
  
            The man’s candor took him off guard and he chuckled nervously. “Actually, yes, I would,” he answered with equal bluntness. “These people are under my protection. **_All_** of these people.” He made sure to emphasize the word “all” to make sure the man understood that his protection extended to those inside the hogan as well.  
  
            “As well they should be, brother of the dog, for there are those here who do not remember the old ways and who would do harm to the child within,” _hataalii_ answered sagely.  
  
            He nodded in agreement, his mouth set into a grim line. “Yes, we have already witnessed such trouble.”  
  
            “I am sorry for that,” Benjamin apologized. “You know the young. They think they know everything.”  
  
            Yukio gave a short, barking laugh in answer to that and smiled. “Yes, that is true.”  
  
            Ruth said something in Dineh and Benjamin smiled at her, nodding. “But let’s not stay out here. We have been invited inside the hogan, and I wish to see the new infant for myself.”  
  
            “Lori has told you what he is?” he questioned cautiously.  
  
            “Yes, and I am eager to meet him. I hope he is the one I have been waiting for.”  
  
            “Waiting for?” Yukio repeated, curious.  
  
            Benjamin gave him a look that showed the wisdom that lived inside the old man, and gave him a glimpse of the _hataalii’s_ power. “Yes. Years ago Coyote tried to give us a Son. One who would reconnect the Navajo People with the Old Ways and guide us once again to _hozho_. We, in our ignorance and fear, killed him. I am here to make sure that does not happen again.”  
  
  
  
********  
  
  
  
            The ride back to the cave where they had first seen the Terror Bats was much shorter than the one they had taken the day before due to the fact that they were no longer limited to the speed of the silver coyote they had been following (and Inuyasha’s lead foot had something to do with it as well). Inuyasha parked the Jeep as close to the track down to the caves as possible and they both got out. He saw Kagome reach into the back of the vehicle to get her bow and arrows and he had to smile to himself.  
  
            “Oi. Maybe you should switch to bullets like that new Cree miko,” he teased.  
  
            His mate scowled at him and he suppressed a smile.  
  
            “Bows won’t dislocate my shoulder,” she answered, marching past him. “Besides, you know I hate guns.”  
  
            “I am sure one of our sons would say that there is something very attractive about a woman with superior firepower,” he commented, falling in beside her.  
  
            She snorted. “Hentai dog.”  
  
            “Me?”  
  
            She smiled at him, one of those wry, secretive smiles that always made his heart turn over in his chest.  
  
            “Yes, you.”  
  
            “Feh,” he barked and shoved his thumbs into the pockets of his jeans.  
  
            “I had a nice conversation with that new Cree miko as you call her,” his mate told him nonchalantly as they made their way down the narrow path.  
  
            “Eh? Are you meddling again?” he accused, but felt a pang of guilt himself because he remembered what he had said to Yukio the night before.  
  
            “No. What would make you think I would do that? We talked about her training and what options were available to her if she decided to pursue it.”  
  
            “Nothing about Yukio?” he pressed, fishing.  
  
            “We did talk about him a little bit, but…”  
  
            “Ah hah! You **_were_** meddling! Didn’t I tell you to stay out of it, wench?”  
  
            She stopped and faced him, looking offended and indignant.  
  
            “We didn’t discuss anything personal. She asked me a few questions about our son and I answered them. And **_you’re_** being far too defensive. Did you say something to Yukio about Emma?”  
  
            He sputtered. “Me? Bah woman, you know I don’t get involved in our pups’ love lives.” She gave him The Look and he lowered his ears. “What?”  
  
            “Inuyasha…”  
  
            “Oh all right, so what if I did say something about her to him?” he demanded defensively. “A father’s allowed to give his son advice if he thinks it’s necessary.”  
  
            Kagome snickered and shook her head. “Of course, Otou-san.”  
  
            “Oyaji!”  
  
            “Right,” she commented and continued walking down the dirt path. “So what did you say to him?”  
  
            “I told him that she wasn’t Miaka.”  
  
            “That’s true. I told Emma to prove her worthiness by being strong, showing no fear, and pulling her weight,” she admitted.  
  
            “Keh, woman already does that. She’s no weak, simpering coward, that one.”  
  
            “Miaka wasn’t a weak coward either. She just didn’t want the same things Yukio did, that’s all,” his mate corrected gently.  
  
            “Feh,” he answered with a derisive snort.  
  
            They were silent the rest of the way down to the caverns, keeping their senses on alert for any signs of danger. It was full daylight so if there were any bats still left alive, they should be dormant, but there was no sense in taking chances. For all they knew, the bats had called for help after they had come under attack, and now there were reinforcements to fight. There was no telling what they would find in the cave when they got there.  
  
            Thankfully, everything was quiet as they approached the cave and Kagome sensed no aura of youki coming from the cavern. He didn’t smell any scents that were fresh either, so that was a good sign and he allowed himself to relax a little bit. The cave was as they remembered it, although this time he took more note of how many human bones were littered on the floor. Originally he had estimated that there were about ten human skeletons scattered among the piles of animal bones, but now he counted 14 skulls and 15 pelvises.  
  
            _‘I wonder if they were the ones unlucky enough to discover what was really happening here,’_ he thought darkly. “I count fifteen humans,” he said to his wife, sifting through the piles of bones and bat dung. For once he was glad he was still wearing shoes.  
  
            Kagome grunted then shook her head. “Count again. Some of these skulls are humanoid youkai,” she corrected, boldly plucking a head from the rubble and showing it to him. “See, the ear depressions are flared. Whoever this was, he had pointed ears.”  
  
            He gave a snort. She was right. “Temeh’s cousins?” he questioned.  
  
            “It’s possible.”  
  
            They found what was left of a large coyote, and it wasn’t difficult to imagine that it had been one of the silver youkai-coyotes that served Temeh’s family. Even wolf-youkai had the youkai-wolves that ran with their packs: animals unable assume human form, but endowed with youkai strength and power. The coyote-youkais had probably sent the beasts out as scouts, then followed when the animals had not returned.  
  
            “We need to look for any evidence that ties these bats to a sponsor,” Kagome said.  
  
            “Deveran.”  
  
            “We don’t know if this Deveran is behind them or not. Temeh’s clan only suspected that he was. We need proof before we go accusing anyone of doing this.”  
  
            “Feh. We give it to my bastard brother and let him take care of it,” he stated, taking her hand and guiding her to the inner chamber. “Oi, call us a light, will ya?”  
  
            “You don’t sense any live bats here?” she asked.  
  
            “Nah. Don’t even hear them shuffling around.”  
  
            “Okay.”  
  
            He heard her draw her bow and soon the glow from the purifying arrow was illuminating the cavern. He spied a battered lantern, perhaps dropped by one of the poor souls whose bones littered the front room, and picked it up. It was still intact, so he used his claws to create a spark that lit the wick. As the glow from the lantern provided enough light to see by, Kagome lowered her bow and extinguished the arrow.  
  
            “Why give this to Sesshoumaru?” she asked him as they began searching the inner cavern.  
  
            The floor was covered in guano and he was considering using the flammable (and explosive) power of the bat shit to torch the entire cavern once they were through searching.  
  
            “Because no one would be stupid enough to go up against my brother, but they might be stupid enough to try to come against me. Let Sesshoumaru handle it. He’ll snap his fingers and have whatever idiot bastard who did this’s head on his desk before morning.”  
  
            “That’s probably one of the smartest things you’ve ever said to me,” he heard her comment.  
  
            He stopped his searching and faced her, irritated. “What? You think I’d let my family be dragged into this shit? You think I’d put Ian in danger? We’ve got pups to protect, y’know.”  
  
            She smiled at him and rewarded him with a deep kiss.  
  
            “Oi! What was that for, wench?” he demanded, blushing but inwardly smiling.  
  
            “I knew there was a reason I fell in love with you,” she answered happily and turned away from him to go back to her inspection of the deserted cavern.  
  
            “Feh,” he snorted but had to bite his cheek to keep the grin off his face.  
  
            They continued searching but so far they hadn’t found much. Terror Bats weren’t known for accumulating a lot of possessions. They were nomadic by nature and did not tend to stay on one cave long enough to fill it with junk. Inuyasha was looking, as much as he could when he really had no idea what he was looking for, but becoming steadily more and more frustrated as the time wore on.  
  
            “I just want him to be happy, y’know?” he admitted suddenly, feeling a need to get it off his chest. “It’s what every father wants for his sons, isn’t it? Maybe Isato will never settle down with one female, but that isn’t what bull-youkai do. Bull-youkai have herds of females so it’s not like it’s normal for him to have just one mate. But inu-youkai are different. We want one mate, and that one is the mate we take for life. That’s what makes us happy. Is it so wrong to want the same thing for Yukio that I have?”  
  
            Kagome gave him a gentle smile and he was once again reminded of why he had fallen in love with her and why he was so grateful to have her in his life.  
  
            “No, it isn’t wrong to want your children to be happy. It’s the best thing any parent could want for their children,” she agreed.  
  
            He blushed and tried to hide his embarrassment by kicking at a pile of discarded leather armor and filthy clothing. “Feh. If that’s so, why do they resent it so much?” he complained, his toe catching on something small and metallic that had been under the clothes. A flash of silver caught his eye and he turned his head to get a better look. “Oi. I think I may have found something.”  
  
            “Hm?”  
  
            He bent down and picked up a heavy weighted seal bearing a family crest. The square seal was only a couple of inches long and appeared to be carved from ivory with a pewter handle.  
  
            “What do you think?” he asked her, showing her the seal.  
  
            “Somehow I doubt any of the bats commissioned something like that,” she replied, taking the seal from him and looking at it closely. “This is well made. It would have been very expensive.”  
  
            “You recognize the crest?”  
  
            “No.”  
  
            A gust of wind was the only warning they had, and he drew Tessaiga just in time to see Kagura floating above them. “Yo.”  
  
            “Arrgh! Kagura, you bitch! What the hell are you doing sneaking up on us like that?” he demanded.  
  
            “I wasn’t sneaking. It isn’t my fault your ears aren’t as good as your brother’s,” the wind-demoness replied dryly.  
  
            “Not as good? Why I oughta…” he snarled, gripping Tessaiga’s hilt tightly.  
  
            “Kagura-san,” Kagome interrupted, placing her hand on his wrist to belay his strike. “Did you follow us here?”  
  
            “No. Why would I need to? The stink of bat shit is carried on the wind,” Kagura answered, shrugging.  
  
            “Ah. Have you seen any Terror Bats that have survived?” his mate asked.  
  
            “No. Looks like your mate and son got the ones that stayed close to home.”  
  
            “Were there many others, Kagura-san?” Kagome questioned.  
  
            The wind-demoness huffed and rolled her eyes. “How should I know?”  
  
            “Feh,” he muttered under his breath, then tossed the ivory and pewter seal up towards her. “Oi, Wind-bitch, you recognize this crest?”  
  
            Kagura snatched the seal out of the air and looked at it. “No, but I will bring it to Sesshoumaru. He makes it a point to know who is operating in his territories.”  
  
            “We have reason to believe a new youkai council member named Deveran may be behind the Terror Bats,” Kagome explained.  
  
            “Deveran. Hm.”  
  
            “Have you heard of him, Kagura-san?” his mate asked.  
  
            “Some. If he is behind this, he’ll have been very stupid.”  
  
            “I agree. These bats have been killing humans and youkai alike. There are several skeletons in the front cavern.”  
  
            Kagura took a closer look at the seal and shrugged. “Hm. Yes, very stupid. But then when have men been anything other than stupid?”  
  
            “Oi!” he complained, but she just gave him a dark chuckle.  
  
            “Well, I’ll take this to Sesshoumaru. Ciao.”  
  
            With that she was gone just as quickly and silently as she had come, and he finally let his jaw relax once she was out of sight.  
  
            “I hate that woman,” he admitted.  
  
            “No you don’t,” his mate answered sagely, a knowing look in her eyes.  
  
            “Oh, I don’t, do I? That bitch is a detachment of Naraku!”  
  
            “That’s true, but she turned against him in the end, didn’t she? And it wasn’t like she could just defy him. He held her heart. As long as he kept it hostage, she could never be free,” she said, her expression turning far away and marred with remembered pain.  
  
            He lowered his ears and took a step towards her. “Oi…”  
  
            She shook her head, brightening, and gave him a brave smile that made a cold spear go through his heart. He knew she carried such pain inside her, such grief and loss that she harbored over the long years. It hurt him to see it and he knew that she swallowed it for his benefit. Yes, it was true that they had each other and their pups, and they were overall very happy and content. But the price they had paid for that contentment had been high and he knew the debt sometimes weighed on her.  
  
            “Kagome…” he began, trying to offer what paltry comfort he could.  
  
            “But he should have known better, shouldn’t he? He should have known he could never tame the wind,” she commented, moving away from him.  
  
            He let his hand fall as she walked away and gave a small sigh. “No.”  
  
            They looked for a short while longer but their hearts weren’t in it, and he eventually let Kagome call a halt to the search.  
  
            “I don’t think we’ll find anything else of value here. The rest of it appears to be just cast off junk,” she commented, surveying the cavern with her hands on her hips.  
  
            “Yeah, but at least we found that seal, and the wind bitch all but confirmed that the rest of the bats are dead,” he answered.  
  
            “That’s true. Now Temeh and his family won’t have to be afraid anymore and the bats won’t be killing sheep and unsuspecting humans.”  
  
            “Yeah.”  
  
            “And if this is about uranium mining, then the best one to handle this would be Sesshoumaru.”  
  
            “Feh. He’s welcome to it. We were only here because of the pup.”  
  
            He heard her sigh and looked over at her, one eyebrow raised. “Oi. What is it?”  
  
            “Please don’t misunderstand. I am happy that Peter’s father is all right and that Temeh has been reunited with his family, but…”  
  
            “But Yukio was looking at that pup like it might be his,” he finished, seeing where his mate was going.  
  
            She nodded sadly. “Yes. Don’t get me wrong, a baby belongs with his family if its at all possible, but… but it would have been nice for him. He wants to be a father so badly.”  
  
            “Keh. Dunno why. It’s not like he had a good role model or anything.”  
  
            She smiled and hooked her arm in his, kissing him on the cheek. “He had the best role model.”  
  
            “If that’s so, why did you keep saying that I’m a violent, reckless jerk?” he mock-growled.  
  
            She chuckled and gave him a push. “Because you are.”  
  
            “Hey,” he complained, but there was no heat in it. They’d been together too long and they knew each other too well. _‘So much history between us… I wonder what the next 400 years has in store for us.’_  
  
            “We’ve been gone a long time. We should be getting back,” she told him.  
  
            He nodded and glanced around the cavern one last time. “Yeah. I think we’re done here.”  
  
            She reached out to take his hand and his fingers curled around her palm the way that they had for the past four centuries.  
  
            “Shall we go then?” she asked.  
  
            “Yeah,” he agreed.  
  
            Her hand slipped from his grasp as she stepped away from him and headed for the exit. She took the lantern with her, the light swaying back and forth like a drunken firefly as she walked. He followed, as always, allowing her to lead him out of the darkness.  
  



	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Navajo words:  
> Hataalii - medicine man  
> Belagana - White man  
> Hozho - harmony  
> A'wee Chi'deedloh - First Laugh Ceremony
> 
>  
> 
> Author’s note: 
> 
> In my research on Navajo culture and traditions, I came across the First Laugh Ceremony. I liked the idea so much that I decided to work it into Coyote Child. Being that the story revolves around a newborn child, I thought it dovetailed nicely into the story line. For more information about the First Laugh tradition, you can go to these links:
> 
> http://webweekly.hms.harvard.edu/archive/2004/12_13/student_scene.html  
> http://wondertime.go.com/learning/article/navajo-baby-laugh.html  
> http://mountainmamagoat.blogspot.com/2006/01/first-laugh-ceremony.html
> 
> The Heart of a Fox is now available as an e-book. Go to http://www.gotkitsune.com for more info 

Chapter 13  
  
            Yukio knew that the young coyote-youkai would not be happy to see a Navajo Medicine Man, but nothing prepared him for the murderous rage Temeh flew into when he saw the _hataalii_ come into the hogan _._   
  
            “Get the hell away from me and my family, you stinking son of a whore!” the new father growled, his hackles raised and his tail bristled straight out.   
  
            Sara cowered behind him, Peter held close to her chest, her eyes wide and full of anguish and fear.   
  
            “I mean no harm,” Ben insisted, his hands up in surrender.  
  
            Temeh only growled and brandished his claws. Much to Yukio’s surprise and concern, he began to see the glow of poison start to well on the boy’s fingernails and he caught the scent of venom.  
  
            _‘So coyote-youkai have poisoned talons like inu-youkai do…’_ he noted, wondering what the hell was going on.  
  
            “Murderer!” Temeh accused and lunged forward, claws ready to strike.  
  
            “Temeh, no!” Sara cried as Peter began to wail.  
  
            “Whoa! Whoa!” Yukio ordered, placing himself between the young coyote-youkai and the elderly Navajo. “What the hell is going on here?”  
  
            “That bastard killed my baby cousin!” Temeh accused.  
  
            “What?” he stammered, at a loss for words, but the new father wasn’t finished.  
  
           “After the pup was murdered, his father threw himself off a mesa when his mate rejected him. It took him twelve years to heal! I’ll never forget the scent of the coward who did it. **_Pup killer!_ ** Keep him away from us, Yukio, or I swear I’ll kill him!”  
  
            He looked to the old man, silently asking if such an accusation were true. Could the jovial, old shaman be a murderer of helpless infants? The look on Ben’s face told him everything and he dropped his shoulders in defeat.  
  
            “Yes, it is true. I was the one to kill the last child Coyote tried to give us. It was over seventy years ago, and I was young and very afraid for my people,” the old man confirmed.  
  
            “So you admit your crime! **_Murderer!_** You should be slaughtered and hung out for the crows for what you did!” Temeh cried.  
  
            “Easy! Easy! There will be no slaughtering or crow feeding on my watch!” Yukio countered, renewing his efforts to keep the two apart.  
  
            “You side with him? You side with this pup killer?” Temeh accused, gasping.  
  
            “I side with no one. Ben said he came here to keep the mistakes of the past from being repeated. I’m here to make sure no one else **_dies!_** ” he growled, losing patience. “Now we all need to calm down and just relax.”  
  
            “You relax! I’m not about to let my guard down around this murderer,” the young father seethed.  
  
            Yukio looked to Benjamin, searching for anything that would tell him what to do next. He desperately wished his parents would return. Even if his father would be no better at dealing with the situation than he was, at least his mother would be able to cast barriers to keep the two sides from killing each other.  
  
            “Killing the child was the most shameful thing I have ever done. I thought I was saving my people, but I was only adding to their misery and pain. If there was any way for me to go back and change what I did, I would. But I cannot take back the mistakes of the past. I can only make sure they are not repeated,” the _hataalii_ said sadly, then he looked at Temeh and addressed the young father, “I do not wish your son any harm. When I heard the rumor that a new Coyote Child had been born, I knew my chance to make up for the evil I had committed in my youth had come. I pledge to you that I will do everything in my power to protect him and teach my people that he is the hope for all of us.”  
  
            “Forgive me, Elder, but I do not know how that is possible. My own father brought a mob here with rocks and guns. How do you intend to overcome generations of mistrust and superstition?” Sara stated, speaking for the first time since Ben had come into the hogan.  
  
            “It is true. In the years since the belagana came, we have suffered and forgotten so much. We wanted someone to blame for our losses…”  
  
            Temeh snarled and spit on the floor in disgust. “Bah! You have no one to blame but yourselves. We tried to warn you. We sent messengers and signs. We sent assurances that we would honor the Pact between our people. In answer, you ignored our warnings and killed our kin. It was you humans who broke the Pact. We have remained faithful even though you shoot our lesser cousins like vermin.”  
  
            Benjamin nodded. “Yes. The years of hardship and pain at the hands of the _belagana_ have blinded us. We have forgotten much. Our youth are seduced by empty _belagana_ promises and _belagana_ ways. We are out of balance. The Old Ways are being lost. We must return to _hozho_. Your son is destined to lead the way.”  
  
            “ ** _My_** **_son_** will have nothing to do with you, pup killer!” the new father shot back. “If it were up to me, I’d take my mate and pup and you’d never see any of us again, but my mate loves her grandmother and will not leave her.”  
  
            Peter had stopped crying as the tension in the hogan had begun to abate. That was a good thing because the pup’s cries had been giving Yukio a headache. It did seem that the threat of violence within the hogan walls had somewhat lessened, and he was able to relax a little bit as he tried to sort through the mess.  
  
            He looked to the other people in the room and was startled by the obvious split in ranks. On one side stood Ben and Lori, but on the other stood Ruth, Sara, Temeh, Emma and himself. Michael and David were by the far wall, standing somewhere in the middle and looking as if neither knew which side to choose. He once again felt sorry for Michael, caught between the two worlds and floundering in the currents.  
  
_‘He’s the one who is going to come out of this the most damaged.’  
  
_             “Look, there is no need to make any decisions now,” Yukio said, speaking into the tense silence. “Why don’t you all take a few days and then try to come to some kind of agreement between you? Ben, it’s obvious that you want something from this pup. And Temeh, I can certainly understand your desire to protect Peter from anyone who would want to hurt him.”  
  
            “You got that right! And that includes keeping him away from just about everyone in this room,” the coyote-youkai snorted contemptuously.  
  
            “Hey, wait a minute,” Sara complained, stepping to stand in front of her lover. “Just about everyone in this room is my kin. These are my people, Temeh. These are my family, and Peter’s family. Like it or not, Peter is half Navajo. You can’t change that.” She turned to Ben and Lori, Peter held close to her chest. “And you can’t change the fact that my baby is half Coyote. Like it or not, he’s of both worlds.” She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “And so am I. Don’t think that I didn’t know what I was doing when I got pregnant. I **_chose_** this. I chose Temeh as much as he chose me. We are in this together.”  
  
            Oddly, Yukio believed her. In the modern time when children were expected to stay children far longer than any other time in history, the display of maturity from the girl was refreshing to him. All too often he had witnessed the consequences of cultures that kept their young ignorant and innocent for too long, only to find that their “grown” children often had no idea how to survive in a world that was almost never fair and sometimes cruel. There was much to be said for allowing children to grow up and face the repercussions of their actions.   
  
            “I would never seek to take you from your people,” Temeh said softly, coming to stand next to Sara. “But you must understand how much I fear for him.”  
  
            She turned to look at Peter’s father and gave him a smile that was much older than her young years, and the expression reminded Yukio of the look his mother sometimes gave his father; a look that said she understood but that she had faith in the future.  
  
            “I know and I am scared too. But my people are **_good_** people, and they do their best to live in harmony with the world. This is what Peter’s birth is all about. I knew he would be a bridge, even if he had to go away for a while. That’s why I was willing to give him up to be raised by strangers. I knew he would return and teach us the Old Ways, just as Coyote did in the beginning, when First Man and First Woman came out of the First World. I knew this. I’ve always known this. It’s what I was born to do.”  
  
            Like his own mother; born the reincarnation of a priestess betrayed and murdered, born to right the wrongs committed five centuries before, Sara was born to heal the wounds that had rent her people apart, and she would do it through her son. In that moment, Yukio understood what was happening in the tiny hut made of mud and wood. He was witnessing a new beginning, a new hope for a people who had suffered so much, lost so much and had seen far too much pain.  
  
            “Is that what you truly wish, my mate?” Temeh asked, his voice earnest.  
  
            Sara nodded seriously. “It is.”  
  
            Temeh closed his eyes and sighed, his shoulders drooping in resignation. Then Yukio saw him take a deep breath and lift himself to his full height.  
  
            “Very well then, follow me,” the young coyote-youkai commanded, and walked out of the hogan.  
  
            They all followed him, Sara directly behind carrying Peter, trailing him as he walked across the sun baked earth to a flat spot about twenty meters from the hogan.  
  
            “Stand back,” he ordered, and then folded himself in half.  
  
            At some point the two silver coyotes had joined them and now they began to sing in low, soft howls as their master transformed. Yukio’s eyes opened wide as he saw Temeh assume his true Coyote form: a huge silver coyote nearly as large as a man was tall. He wasn’t as big as his uncle was in his Tai-youkai dog form, but big enough.   
  
            The giant coyote turned golden eyes their way, his mouth opening to reveal his rows of sharp teeth, then he took his massive paw and slammed it into the hard ground. The sharp claws gouged the earth like softened butter, and Yukio could hear the bedrock cracking and splintering underneath the impact. The hole collapsed in upon itself as Temeh struck again, then Yukio took a sniff and smelled the strong scent of water.  
  
            When he was done, the coyote sat back on his haunches and lifted himself to squat on his hind legs. Then his body began to condense and he was once again the young coyote-youkai in his two-legged form. He stood next to the new well he had just created and pointed to it.  
  
            “I make a new pact between my people and the Navajo. We will honor the Old Ways and once again guide the People. We will offer aid when it is asked, and give our knowledge and protection,” Temeh announced calmly. “I seal this pact with a gift of water: lifeblood in the desert. This well will never run dry.”  
  
  
  
********  
  
  
  
            Michael and David were sent to fetch piping and a well hand pump from someone, somewhere while Yukio and Temeh finished the job of shoring up the new well and making it ready for use. Emma stood back and watched them, watched as they did things in minutes what would have taken a human man hours or days.   
  
            It was obvious that Yukio had building experience because he knew exactly what to do to make sure the well was secure and stable, and both he and Temeh moved with the efficiency of people who knew what they were doing. She imagined that someone who had lived for centuries would amass quite a number of skills useful for survival, and once again wondered what the hell she was getting herself into.  
  
            She looked over at Sara who was watching the goings-on with quiet happiness, and at the old woman and man who were making preparations to bless the new well, and then at the bewildered young _hataalii_ who was holding her hands stiffly at her sides. Emma felt a small twinge of sympathy for the woman. None of this was easy on any of them, but for her the world must be spinning on its axis. She’d seen Yukio giving the same sympathetic look to Michael, and she realized that they both must be feeling the same way.  
  
            _‘And the lie which is the truth hurts more than the truth which is the lie,_ ’ she thought sadly.  
  
            She looked back at Yukio and was once again struck by his beauty and strength. There were so many questions that she wanted to ask. Could he change his shape the way Temeh could? Did he have that foul-smelling liquid that had started to come out of the coyote-youkai’s nails when he felt threatened? Could he do what Temeh had just done with a single swipe of his paw?  
  
            She could ask just as many questions of Sara. How did she know Temeh was the one she was destined to be with? How did she even know that pairing with him was her destiny? How did she feel about living for ages? How did she think she would manage living with one foot in two very different worlds?   
  
            Somehow, a child almost ten years her junior was behaving more maturely and more bravely than most adults she knew, and she wondered how the girl planned to weather the storms that were about to come into her life. Then she realized that Sara probably felt safe when she was with Temeh, simply because Temeh **_could_** do all of the things she had seen him do.   
  
            She felt the same way about Yukio. After watching him fight, could she feel anything but completely safe in his presence? She didn’t know if he was the one, but the dreams of her grandfather suggested that he was, and even if he wasn’t, she had no doubt that he and his family were about to become very important people in her life.  
  
            While Yukio and his father had been guarding the hogan last night, she had been able to talk with Kagome. Most of the conversation had focused on her newly awakened powers, but some of it had pertained to Yukio, and she had learned much more of his long, sad story.  
  
            It was obvious from the conversation, however, that neither Kagome nor Inuyasha wanted to influence the outcome of the situation between her and Yukio, but that both of them were highly interested in their son’s happiness. Kagome had been guarded and careful in her choice of words when it came to her eldest son, but Emma could tell that she was concerned and wanted Yukio find someone to share his life.   
  
            The older woman ( ** _much_** older woman) had offered a little insight into Yukio’s mindset and given her a nudge or two towards which direction she should pursue. From Kagome’s subtle hints, she was able to determine that Yukio was attracted to strong women who could take care of themselves. So now she was showing him with her actions that she was willing and able to fill that role.   
  
            It wasn’t difficult for her at all. She had always been independent and self-sufficient, and standing beside Yukio in a crisis had been something she had done almost on instinct. Asking her to be his equal and partner instead of someone who would hide behind him, didn’t seem too far of a stretch for her.  
  
_‘Now if I can only convince him of that…’  
  
_             It was frustrating and confusing enough as it was, but now that she had to add her new powers to the mix, she found herself feeling adrift. What she really wanted to do was go home. She wanted to be back among her family and the places she knew. Being out in the middle of the desert, dealing with demonic bats and angry Navajos, was no place for her to be if she wanted to be able to think clearly. But she had no choice and she knew it. Until the situation with Temeh, Sara and the baby was resolved, Inuyasha and his family were going nowhere, and like it or not, they were her ride back to Canada.  
  
            Kagome had offered her skills as a teacher once they were back in Calgary, and for that she was grateful. She had been expecting the offer because Yukio had told her that his mother would probably volunteer help, so it hadn’t come as a complete surprise. What did come as a surprise were Kagome’s thin allusions as to what could happen between Emma and Yukio once they were back home, and she was spending a good deal of time out at their estate. Kagome had hinted that seeing Emma on a regular basis might help her son turn his eye her way. It was an unspoken opportunity and Emma knew to take it seriously, but very gently. Both women understood that Yukio would run high-tailed for the hills if he thought he was being manipulated, and neither of them wanted that.   
  
            _‘Handle him gently, let him come to you. A butterfly that is chased will fly away, but if you are quiet and still, it may light on your finger,’_ she reminded herself as she watched Yukio and Temeh finish setting the final stones that would protect the new well from contamination and keep unsuspecting people and animals from falling in.  
  
            Both of them were sweating, and looked worn out, so it came as no surprise that they announced that they were going to bathe once the work was done.  
  
            “Do you need your shampoo and conditioner?” she asked, motioning towards the hogan.  
  
            Yukio shook his head. “No, I’ll get it. You should get in out of the sun. The pup’s been out in it too long as it is.”  
  
            She smiled to herself. As always, his thoughts were on the health and safety of the baby, and those who were under his protection. She knew from Kagome that her eldest son had learned that from his father, and that, despite all of Inuyasha’s gruffness and bluster, he was a good and caring man. She could expect no less from the son if she were to pair with him.  
  
            Seeing him working and watching how he interacted with others, his quiet strength, his big heart, she could not imagine what had possessed his first wife to reject him the way that she had and then make him watch her die. She had tried to get more information from Kagome on what had happened, but the older woman had been reluctant to discuss it. All she had said was that Miaka hadn’t wanted the same things from life that Yukio had wanted, and that the bombing of Japan in 1945 had damaged the woman in some way that had never healed. The pain on Kagome’s face had made her think twice about pressing the issue, but she had hopes of being able to ask more questions later.  
  
            “We’ll go in soon. Although I might take the opportunity to ogle you again. It **_is_** daylight now after all. I’d get a better view,” she teased.   
  
            “Bah, woman! My father was right. The women of this time are too brazen,” he shot back, but his smile told her that he wasn’t offended.  
  
            She laughed and gave him a little shrug as he continued to shake his head while making his way over the hogan so he could get his toiletries, then he and Temeh disappeared around the bend to the arroyo. While they were gone, Ben and Ruth performed a Blessing Way geared towards blessing the new well with Sara and Lori in attendance. When the ritual was completed, all of them went back inside the hogan to escape the heat and Yukio and Temeh joined them shortly thereafter. There was no sign of Michael or her cousin, and Kagome and Inuyasha had yet to return from inspecting the demon bats’ cave. Ruth made coffee and served food from the pile of canned goods and packaged items Kagome had donated to the family, and Temeh and Yukio once again dived into the ramen noodles. They were still eating when Michael and David got back with the hand pump and piping.  
  
            Yukio took the pump and pipes from Michael, and he and Temeh went back out to the well to install them. Michael and David had also brought back some buckets and another 50-gallon water drum, and she helped unload these and put them where Ruth wanted them stored. The entire operation was completed in less than an hour, and they once again sought shade from the heat.   
  
            This time they gathered outside, sitting under a crude wooden arbor overlaid with a canvas tarp to shield them from the sun, and Sara pulled out a handloom for her grandmother. The loom held a half completed blanket that looked to be about the size of an infant’s blanket, and the old woman sat down in front of it and got to work. They watched her weave while the rest of them sat around and tried not to look as uncomfortable as they felt. Finally, Lori announced that she wanted to go back to her own hogan and Michael agreed to take her. Emma thought that was best because their continued unhappiness with the situation was only making Temeh nervous. Ben opted to wait for Inuyasha and Kagome to return so he stayed behind while Lori and Michael left in his Scout. David went with them so Michael could take him to the RN _hataalli_ and have his head wound checked.  
  
            After they were gone, Sara nursed Peter then gave him to Temeh to hold. The new father held his son carefully, his face soft with love and pride, but then he shocked everyone by placing the baby down on a blanket spread on the ground. He motioned to the twin silver coyotes who were resting in what little shade they could find and the two animals crept over cautiously.  
  
Emma was worried for a moment, but she looked at Yukio and saw that he was completely calm. Ruth and Ben were watching warily but they, too, did not seem to be overly concerned as the two coyotes took turns sniffing the baby and nuzzling him. Peter rolled over to face them and reached out to touch their muzzles, making little huffing noises. Emma thought it was a little soon for such a young infant to be able to turn over, but then she remembered that Kagome had told her youkai infants developed faster than human babies.  
  
            After a few moments, both coyotes seemed satisfied and they lay down next to the infant, flanking him between them like two furry crib railings. Neither Peter nor his father seemed unhappy with the arrangement, and soon Peter was cuddled up with his babysitters.  
  
            “My mother used to tell the story of our dog being my babysitter when I was a little boy. She said she never had to worry about what trouble I would find because the dog would get me out of it,” Ben commented with a soft smile.  
  
            “My parents used to hang my baby sling from a tree,” Yukio said. “And when I was a toddler, my sitter was a kitsune kit about 6 years older than me. When there was trouble, my father would find a big tree with a hollow under its roots, and he would put Shippo and me in the hollow then seal the entrance with a big rock. It was Shippo’s job to hit anyone who pulled the rock away with foxfire if they weren’t my father or mother, but sometimes he would blast Otou-san with it anyway just to annoy him.”  
  
            They laughed and Yukio smiled a real smile that made Emma feel warm inside.  
  
            “My grandmother tells us about the time when I was a toddler and I disappeared on their farm. Everyone was panicking but then Grandmother noticed that her four mares were all standing in a circle with their heads facing out. Sure enough, I’d wandered into their pasture and had fallen asleep, and the mares were standing guard around me like I was a foal,” she added, recalling the memory and her grandmother’s face.  
  
            Temeh chuckled. “There was this time when I wandered off and my big brother found me by the river near our hacienda. Kohteh had me by the seat of my pants and his feet were firmly planted in the dirt so I wouldn’t go into the water. Jodon found me because I screamed up the dead when Kohteh wouldn’t let me go.”  
  
            “My younger sister is a full neko-youkai. She used to find me when I was sleeping a tree and kick me out of it. A neko-youkai is a cat,” Yukio offered, his eyes bright.  
  
            They all laughed and he continued, “She used to say that dogs didn’t belong in trees. Oh, how I wish Super Soakers had been invented four hundred years ago.”  
  
            They laughed again, then a sound came from between the two silver coyotes: a burbling chuckle. Still smiling, Emma watched Yukio stand and go over to the baby, his hands on his hips.  
  
            “What? You think that’s funny, hmm?” he teased, reaching down to pick Peter up. “You think me getting kicked out of a tree is funny, huh pup?”  
  
            The baby looked at him, his small hands reaching out to touch Yukio’s face, and giggled.  
  
            “Oh you do think it’s funny, eh? He thinks it’s funny.”  
  
            Yukio didn’t see it until he looked up at the adults, but Emma had noticed the change the instant Peter had laughed. Now Yukio saw the happy surprise and pleasure on Ruth and Ben’s faces.  
  
            “What?” he questioned.  
  
            Sara had put her hands over her mouth, but Temeh was beaming.  
  
            “My son laughed,” the young father explained.  
  
            The mention of laughter made Emma remember something about Navajo traditions and she smiled when she realized what had happened.  
  
            “So?” Yukio said, confused. “He’s laughed before, hasn’t he?”  
  
            “No,” Emma confirmed. “That was his first laugh.”  
  
            Ben chuckled and clapped his hands together while Ruth grinned and nodded her head.  
  
            “I’m guessing that’s a good thing?” the inu-youkai hanyou asked.  
  
            “Oh yes, it’s a very good thing,” Temeh replied.   
  
            Ruth said something to Ben in Dineh and the _hataalii_ nodded his head in agreement.  
  
            “To my people, when a child laughs for the first time, it means he is ready to become part of the world. We believe that an infant is still with the Holy Ones even after he is born. When the baby is ready to join his human family, he tells us with his first laugh,” Sara explained.  
  
            “So a baby’s first laugh is cause for celebration, and the one who made the baby laugh will be an important person in the baby’s life,” Temeh continued.  
  
            “And since you were the one who made him laugh, that means you,” Emma added, giving Yukio a wry smile.  
  
            Yukio looked at her then to the smiling infant in his hands and to the child’s parents. “Me?”  
  
            Temeh came forward and put his hand on Yukio’s arm. “Yes, you. And I am glad that it is you. You who were a stranger yet risked your life to protect my son.”  
  
            She saw Yukio blush but her newfound spiritual powers also allowed her to feel the undercurrents of joy mixed with sadness coming from him. She felt the roiling emotions so strongly that she had to use one of the techniques Kagome had taught her to try to block them.  
  
_‘He’s so lonely and he wants to be a father so badly. It hurts him to be on the outside looking in, but yet he can’t tear his eyes away from the window.’  
  
_             “I am honored,” she heard him reply and she watched as he handed the baby to Temeh and bowed to him.  
  
            Temeh bowed back. “It is we who are honored.”  
  
            Ruth said something to Sara and the girl translated for the rest of them.   
  
            “Ma’sani’ says that we will have the feast tomorrow. When Ben leaves today he will let others know about the ceremony so they can come. He will bring the sheep and salt when he comes back in the morning, but we have everything else we need here.”  
  
            “Sheep? Salt?” Yukio repeated.   
  
            “There will be an A'wee Chi'deedloh ceremony and a feast. We will hold a Laughing Party. All of my relatives and friends will be invited to come,” Sara added.  
  
            Temeh handed Peter to Sara then he put a hand on Yukio’s shoulder. “Typically the one who made the baby laugh is the one to host the party, but because you are not Navajo and unfamiliar with the customs, we’ll do it for you.”  
  
            “It is a little early, though. Most babies don’t laugh until they are around six weeks old,” Sara admitted.  
  
            “You let me handle any questions about that,” Ben said. “I will use his early laughter as a way to convince others that this one is special.”  
  
            “Hey, old man, don’t do anything that could put my son in danger,” Temeh warned.  
  
            “I give you my word that I will not,” the _hataalii_ promised.  
  
            Temeh grunted and sat down with Sara. Sara set Peter back down on the blanket and soon he was flanked by his two furry babysitters.  
  
            “Heh, Kohteh and Kohmeh know their job well,” Temeh said fondly.  
  
            “Yeah, they’ll have a hard time keeping you both out of trouble now,” Yukio joked.  
  
            Temeh sniffed but did not comment, and Yukio took his seat next to her again. Soon the new parents were involved in an animated discussion with Ruth and Ben, but she didn’t understand most of it because they were speaking in Dineh.  
  
            “What do you know about this A’wee Chi’deedloh ceremony?” she heard Yukio ask her in a soft voice.  
  
            She looked at him and both saw and felt his nervousness, and she wondered why the thought of being part of a ritual concerned him.  
  
            “Not much,” she admitted.  
  
            “Well, I guess if there is something I have to do for it, they’ll let me know.”  
  
            She nodded. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it. They know that you aren’t familiar with their ways.”  
  
            “I just hate ceremonies,” he admitted, frowning. “Usually they’re a lot of trouble for something that should be simple. My parents’ Japanese wedding that they had six years ago. That was a logistic nightmare that took 9 months to plan, and my mother nearly fainted under the weight of her wedding kimono.”  
  
            She suppressed a giggle and the urge to put a comforting hand on his arm. The fact that he felt comfortable enough to seek her advice was telling, but she didn’t want to risk his fragile trust in her by being too forward.  
  
            “You sound like your father,” she teased, trying to lighten his mood.  
  
            “Oh no I don’t. If I’d wanted to sound like my father, I’d have added a few four letter words to the mix.”  
  
            She chuckled and shook her head. “Point taken.”  
  
            “I guess… I guess I just don’t know what’s next. I don’t know what we’ll do now,” he said, his voice uncertain.  
  
            “Won’t that depend on what your parents find in that cave?”  
  
            He sighed. “Yeah, but I’m pretty sure all the bats are dead. If any had survived, they would have come after us by now. They aren’t damaged by sunlight, they just prefer the darkness.”  
  
            “So you’re taking their absence as a good sign.”  
  
            He nodded. “Yeah.”  
  
            “Well, then, what would you do next?”  
  
            She saw him think for a moment, his lips drawn into a tight line. “I’d contact Temeh’s parents, but I doubt he’d agree with me.”  
  
            She glanced at the coyote-youkai to confirm that he was still engrossed in the conversation with his mate and her grandmother. “Perhaps not. If this Laughing Party is as significant as I think it is, he may secretly want his parents there. Peter is their grandchild too.”  
  
            Yukio grunted softly and gave a short nod. “I’ll ask my mother for her opinion when she and Otou-san get back.”  
  
            “They have been gone a long time,” she admitted, looking off in the direction Kagome and Inuyasha had taken that morning.  
  
            “It was a long way away and they probably stayed to go through the cave to look for any clues as to who brought the bastards here. They’ll be back as soon as they can,” he answered.  
  
            “You aren’t worried?”  
  
            He shook his head, then he gave her a sheepish smile, his eyes dancing with mischief. “If they aren’t back by nightfall, then I’ll start to get worried. In the meantime, I need to figure out how to mix sheep meat with ramen noodles without offending anyone.”  
  
            She just tossed her head back and laughed.  



	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hataalii - medicine man  
> Yah-ta-hey – hello

Chapter 14  
  
  
  
            Things were in a bit of an uproar when they got back to the hogan. Having been gone all morning, and most of the afternoon looking for any evidence of the Terror Bats’ patron, they were surprised to find everyone engaged in a flurry of activity.  
  
            “Oi!” Inuyasha called as he and his mate got out of the Jeep. “What’s going on?”  
  
            Yukio saw them and came running over, relief evident on his face. “Otou-san! Kaa-san! I am so glad you’re back.”  
  
            There was a hint of crazed panic in his son’s eyes that made him clench his teeth.  
  
            “What happened?”  
  
            “The pup laughed,” Yukio answered as if the simple, nonsensical statement explained everything.  
  
            “Huh? What? The pup what?” he demanded, instinctively reaching for his sword.  
  
            Yukio took a deep breath. “He laughed. Apparently that’s a big thing in the Navajo culture. They’re planning a big party tomorrow, and I’m the guest of honor.”  
  
            “You? Why you?”  
  
            “Because I was the one who made him laugh,” his son admitted.  
  
            “Who is that?” Kagome asked suddenly, taking his attention from Yukio’s blathering. So the pup laughed? So what?  
  
            He turned his head to see who she was looking at and saw an old man talking with Ruth. The human was bent with age, but he reeked of Power. Just what they needed, another Navajo bouzo. He almost growled.  
  
            “Who? Oh, that’s Ben. He came to see the pup. He’s an _hataalii_. I should also warn you that he’s one of the men who killed the last coyote-hanyou pup that was born on the Navajo reservation.”  
  
            “And you let him near Peter?” his mother gasped.  
  
            “No, it’s ok. Ben doesn’t mean him any harm. He feels terrible about what happened the last time, and he came here to help,” Yukio assured them.  
  
            “And do you believe him?” Inuyasha asked.  
  
            His son nodded. “I smell no deceit on him. If he’s lying, he’s lying to himself too.”   
  
            He grunted softly. He trusted Yukio’s nose as well as he would trust his own, and if his son said the man wasn’t lying, then he wasn’t lying.  
  
            By now the old man had seen them, and Inuyasha had no doubt that his concealment spell was as useless against him as it was against the Medicine Man in Utah. He steeled himself and loosened his hold on Tessaiga’s hilt in preparation for meeting the man. It would do no good for him to slice something off if he got angry enough to draw the sword.   
  
            “Yah-tah-hey. Yah-ta-hay, my friends,” the man greeted, a wide smile on his lips. “Welcome back.”  
  
            “Thank you, Ojii-san,” his wife replied, stepping up to meet the old man.   
  
            He scowled as Kagome accepted the _hataalii’s_ handshake, uncomfortable with his mate touching the stranger, but he knew better than to make a fuss.  
  
            “I am Benjamin Dailey. You must be Yukio’s parents, Kagome and Inuyasha Fushikenwa.”  
  
            “Yes, Benjamin-san. We are pleased to meet you,” his mate replied, bowing.  
  
            “Speak for yourself,” he grumbled under his breath, but only Yukio heard him and snickered.  
  
            “And I you. Please call me Ben. Your son speaks well of you. He is a fine man.”  
  
            “Thank you, Ben-san. Yes, we are very proud of Yukio,” Kagome answered, maternal pride in her voice.   
  
            He fluffed with pride himself; his eldest was one of his finest sons, and he could not ask for a better beta. But he couldn’t allow the old man’s praises to get him to let down his guard. No matter how friendly he might be now, Yukio had admitted that the _hataalii_ had murdered a helpless pup in the past.  
  
            “Oi! Is it true you killed the last Coyote pup?” he demanded.  
  
            “I was one of the men, yes. I was a boy then, and I participated in the mob that went for the child,” the old man admitted.  
  
            “Huh,” Inuyasha huffed, surprised by the _hataalii’s_ frank answer. He had expected at least some hedging or circling of the issue, but the man had just come out and admitted it. “What makes you think you would be welcome here now? You think you are forgiven because it’s been a long time?”  
  
            “No. I ask no forgiveness for my part in what happened. There is no forgiveness for it.”  
  
            Inuyasha blew out his nose and nodded. “No, there isn’t. There is no forgiveness for murdering helpless pups.”  
  
            “It was a shameful thing, but I am here now to make sure the same thing does not happen to this child. I do not want to see the mistakes of the past repeated.”  
  
            “Benjamin has pledged to speak for the pup to the other Elders,” Yukio explained. “He hopes to convince them to leave Peter alone.”  
  
            “Just hopes?” Inuyasha countered. “What if he fails and a mob comes after we’re gone? Do we want to take that chance?”  
  
            “You won’t need to. If there is danger, I will take Sara and my son away from here,” Temeh interrupted, coming to stand next to Yukio.   
  
            Inuyasha noticed that the coyote youkai stayed on the opposite side from the old man. ‘ _Feh. Bodies might be buried but they’re shallow graves.’  
  
_             “And what if there are too many to fight?” he heard Kagome ask.  
  
            _‘He’ll die trying to save them. No need to ask that dumb question,’_ he thought with a scowl.  
  
            “Kohteh and Kohmeh will warn me well in advance if there is a mob coming.”  
  
            _‘If the mob doesn’t get them first…’_ But then he realized that the coyotes would probably run from the mob well before any of them could get a hand on the animals. Youkai coyotes were twice as fast and wily as their normal counterparts.  
  
            “Could you outrun them?” his mate pressed.  
  
            “If I transformed, yes,” Temeh replied with complete conviction. “I am at my most powerful when I am in my true form.”  
  
            Inuyasha nodded. He knew that from his experiences with his brother. The true demon form was always the most powerful, but not always the best. Sesshoumaru’s missing arm gave credence to that.  
  
            “Feh. You’d just make a bigger target,” he taunted, crossing his arms over his chest. He knew he was picking a fight, but after what he had seen of how the Navajos treated coyotes, he wanted to make sure the kid knew what he was getting into.  
  
            “It will not come to that,” Ben assured them. “After tomorrow, the others will see. They will understand that he has come to help us. He will lead us back to _hozho_.”  
  
            He snorted. It sounded too much like ‘grand destiny’ to him, and he balked at the idea that the pup’s future was already decided. He knew all about destiny and fate, and he hated both. If _destiny_ and _fate_ had had their way, he would have been dead for centuries.  
  
            “Oi, why don’t you let the pup learn how to walk before you start deciding what he’s gonna do?”  
  
            Ben laughed and nodded. “Yes, of course. He cannot lead us anywhere until he can at least crawl.”  
  
            “Feh.”  
  
            “But now is a time of celebration. The boy child has laughed. He is ready to leave the Holy Ones and join his human family,” the _hataalii_ said. “We are planning the A'wee Chi'deedloh for him to welcome him to the People.”  
  
            “Is there anything we can do to help?” Kagome asked. “We need to go to a town to get gas so we can stop at a market and pick up any food and supplies you need while we are there.”  
  
            “I will bring the sheep we will give for the feast and the salt for the ceremony. The child’s grandmother has all that she needs for the Laughing Party, and the guests will also bring food, but if you wish to contribute, anything you bring will be welcome.”  
  
            “Is there anything that I, as the one who made Peter laugh, should bring?” Yukio questioned. “Temeh, I know you said that normally that person would be the one to host the party.”  
  
            Temeh nodded. “Yes, yes. But you are not Navajo. You are not of the People so you are not expected to know our ways. I have assumed the role of host in your place.”  
  
            “What we can bring?” his mate said, placing her hand on their son’s arm.  
  
            “Food is always welcome. You know the Navajo staples: corn, beans, bacon… Any of those things would be a good gift to bring for the feast.”  
  
            “We can pick up some things when we get gas for the Jeep.”  
  
            “Yes, that’s a good idea,” Temeh agreed.  
  
            Seeing that his mate would now be involved with party planning, he removed himself from the conversation and let Kagome discuss the event with the bouzo and the coyote-youkai. He hated big parties and ceremonies, and he knew his son shared the same sentiment.  
  
            “What happened while we were gone?” he asked his eldest.  
  
            “Temeh dug a new well,” Yukio replied.  
  
            Inuyasha blinked. “He did?”  
  
            “We spent a good bit of the afternoon shoring it up, setting the pipe, and making sure the pump worked, but now Ruth and the neighboring hogans have a local source of water. He dug it deep enough that it’ll never run dry.”  
  
            He tilted his head into the wind and breathed deep, catching the scent of water.  
  
            “It’s clean,” he said.  
  
            “Yeah, we tested it,” Yukio agreed.  
  
            “That was a good gift.”  
  
            “A priceless gift. Temeh gave it to seal a new Pact between his clan and the Navajo.”  
  
            “Feh. He’s just a pup. He didn’t have the authority to do that,” he argued, crossing his arms. Secretly, however, he was impressed. Doing that took guts, but he didn’t want to ease up on the kid too much because he didn’t want it to look like he was going soft.  
  
            “Whether he did or didn’t, he did it anyway, and it isn’t like he made any new promises. He just renewed the original pact between them,” Yukio replied with a shrug.  
  
            He gave a grunt in answer, but otherwise stayed silent.  
  
            “Is it true that you and Okaa-san need to go to town?”  
  
            “We need gas for the Jeep. Tank’s half empty and the spare cans need refilled,” he replied.  
  
            “I’d like to go with you when you go.”  
  
            He gave his son a look. “And leave the pup unprotected?”   
  
            Yukio winced, but he could see the stress on his son’s face. “No, but I was hoping…”  
  
            “That I would stay here and guard the pup whole you went with your mother.”  
  
            Yukio flushed and looked away. “Yes. Tou-san, I need… I need some fresh air.”  
  
            _‘More like he needs some time away from the Cree woman’s scent,’_ he reasoned, casting a quick glance where Emma was talking with Sara and the old woman. Emma was holding the pup while Sara helped her grandmother with a handloom, and Inuyasha didn’t miss the look of contentment on her face.  
  
            _‘Yeah, he definitely needs some time away from her. Push too much here, and he’ll run like the flea at the first sign of trouble.’_ “All right. I’ll stay while you go with your mother. But don’t blame me if we get kicked off the reservation because you left me alone with them.”  
  
            Yukio laughed and patted him on the shoulder. “Surely you can keep your mouth shut for a couple of hours while Kaa-san and me are gone.”  
  
            “Feh.”  
  
            His son laughed again, but he could see the relief in Yukio’s eyes.   
  
            ‘A little time away from her might help him work some things out.’  
  
            They watched as Kagome finished her conversation with the whelp and the bouzo, then waited as she came over.  
  
            “The nearest gas station is about 2 hours away. We should get going,” his mate said.  
  
            “Otou-san is staying here to guard the hogan, Kaa-san. I’ll go into town with you,” Yukio answered.  
  
            His mate gave him a look that said they’d talk about that later, but she smiled at their son.  
  
            “It’s been a while since we’ve gone out together just the two of us.”  
  
            Yukio laughed. “It’s just like going out with Tou-san, only without the road rage and impatient glares.”  
  
            “Oi!” he growled, but then added more softly, “Hey, check the cell signal where you’re going. Call home if you can. Make sure everything is okay there.”  
  
            Kagome nodded, understanding that they both were missing home and ready for the trip to be over.   
  
            “Do you need a phone?” Temeh asked, overhearing them.  
  
            “Do you have one that works here?” his mate answered. “Ours has no signal.”  
  
            “Sure. I’ve got a satellite phone. You need one out here. Its in my bag. I’ll get it.”  
  
            When the coyote-youkai had gone to get his bag, Yukio turned to him but he growled a warning.  
  
            “What?” his son asked innocently.  
  
            “Don’t start about the damn phone,” he complained.  
  
            “But Tou-san, I wasn’t going to say a word.” Yukio was all mock-angry and offended, but his eyes were laughing at him.  
  
            He growled again, but he mate rubbed his arm to soothe his temper. It worked… a little.   
  
            Temeh came back with his phone, and Inuyasha frowned even more because it was one of those fancy iPhones that his son, Miroku, loved so much – the kind that played music and showed videos and sent email. He’d punctured four of them with his nails before he gave up on the stupid things. When the kid offered it to him, he waved toward Kagome so she could take it. If she broke it at least it wouldn’t be **_his_** fault.   
  
            Still he perked his ears up as she thanked the kid and dialed home. His son, Tetzukasu, answered on the first ring.  
  
            “Hi Mama,” his dragon-hanyou son greeted cheerfully.  
  
            “Tetzu, how did… Oh, of course, nevermind,” Kagome replied. “How are things there?”  
  
            He huffed. Of course Tetzu would have known they were going to call; he had the Sight.   
  
            “We’re all fine, Mama. Ian’s here and Eri and Izayoi. Do you want to talk to them?”  
  
            In the background, Inuyasha could hear his youngest clamoring for the phone.   
  
            “It sounds like Ian is insisting that he talk to me,” Kagome answered, a smile on her face.  
  
            “Kaa-san, Kaa-san! When are you and Aniki and Tou-san coming home?” Ian’s voice begged.  
  
            “Soon, baby. We’re almost done here. Are you being good for Tetzu?”  
  
            “Yes, but I miss you. I want you to come home today.” There was a definite whine in the pup’s tone.  
  
            “Oh no, Ian, I’m sorry, but it’ll be another day or two at least.”  
  
            “No!”   
  
            He grabbed the phone from his mate and growled into the receiver. “Oi! Don’t you talk to your mother like that!” he scolded, then added, :Pup obey leader-male and pack-brother.:  
  
            Ian whined low in his throat, but he heard the submission.  
  
            :Sorry. Sorry. Pup sorry.: “Sorry, Tou-san, sorry.”  
  
            :Forgiven.: “It’s okay, pup. We know you miss us. We want to be home with you too.”  
  
            “Are you coming home soon, Tou-san?”  
  
            “As soon as we can. You want to talk to Aniki?”  
  
            “Yeah!”  
  
            He handed the hated iPhone to his eldest and crossed his arms as his two sons talked.  
  
            “How many pups do you have?” Temeh asked suddenly.  
  
            It was an odd question because almost anyone who was someone knew he and Kagome had raised over thirty orphaned hanyous. Then again, the kid was barely out of diapers, so maybe he didn’t know as much as he thought he did.  
  
            “Twenty-eight,” he answered.  
  
            Temeh’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head. “ ** _Twenty-eight?_** ”  
  
            He shrugged. “Had thirty-four but six died.”  
  
            Technically he’d lost ten if he counted the four miscarriages Kagome’d had before she gave birth to Ian, but he shied away from the memory. He didn’t like to think of all the suffering and loss they had been through before Ian was born.  
  
            “Wow,” Temeh breathed. “How did…”   
  
            He saw the kid trail off, his eyes sliding over to Kagome, sizing her up. He scowled.  
  
            “They were adopted,” he snapped. “Only my youngest is our biological child.”  
  
            Temeh nodded as if he’d just remembered something. “The invitro pup.”  
  
            He grunted in acknowledgement and watched as Yukio finished talking and hung up the iPhone.  
  
            “Well, everything is fine back home, but Tetzu would like us to return as soon as possible because he’s needed back in New York.”  
  
            “I’m thinking the day after tomorrow,” he answered.  
  
            “Yeah. One more day to tie up loose ends,” his son agreed, then thanked Temeh for the use of his iPhone as he handed it back.  
  
            “Well, we’re off,” Yukio announced cheerfully.  
  
            “Get more ramen,” he said just for something to say.  
  
            His son grinned and his mate gave him a kiss before they got into the Jeep and headed off. He swallowed a sigh and quelled the pang of longing as he watched them drive away.  
  
            “It’s hard to be away from your mate,” Temeh commented.  
  
            He looked at the kid and realized that the boy probably understood that feeling better than most.  
  
            “Yeah, you could say that.”  
  
  
  
88888888  
  
  
  
  
  
            Sesshomaru sneered and looked down at the battered demon who had been tossed at his feet. His guards had brought the idiot in on his orders, and dragged him into the office he kept in Tucson. He disliked the desert city, but he found it convenient to have a base of operation near his son’s Las Vegas empire without seeming like he was hovering too close. He had told his agents to bring him the one who was guilty of importing the demon bats, and meddling in plans he had been setting in motion to use less than conventional means of harvesting uranium from Navajo lands. Now, of course, those plans were completely disrupted, and they would have to be put on hold until scrutiny of the situation died down. He was not pleased.  
  
            “You are Deveran?” he asked, his voice cold. The scent of the scum’s blood on his split lip was an affront to his nose, but he kept his face calm and expressionless.  
  
            “You know I am,” the pathetic creature rasped.  
  
            “Hmph. You know who I am?”  
  
            The prisoner ventured a quick glance up at his face, and he was pleased that his servants had complied with his demand that the upstart remain relatively unharmed upon capture. What injuries he had sustained had been incurred because he had fought when he was ambushed. His guards knew their orders, but nothing told them that they were not permitted to defend themselves.  
  
            “You are Nishitaisho Sesshomaru, the Lord of the West.”  
  
            He grunted in a satisfactory way. At least the unfortunate fool had heard of him. It would make things so much easier.  
  
            “Then you know you have encroached on my territory.”  
  
            The demon hissed in defiance. “You have no claim to the Navajo lands!”  
  
            “I am Lord of the West and High Councilor of the Western and Eastern Hemispheres. Everything is under my claim,” he corrected calmly, but the anger was simmering just under the surface. Aside from endangering the very long term and elaborate plans with his recklessness, the peon had brought disgusting carrion-eaters close to his middle son’s domicile. Sesshomaru was not amused.   
  
            The prisoner scowled and spat on the floor. The action only sealed the upstart’s fate, but he didn’t bother to tell him that. “That’s what I think of your claim.”  
  
            “Hrrm. We have found evidence of your involvement in the smuggling of illegal youkai into this country,” he stated.  
  
            The prisoner spat again. There was acid in the saliva; it burned his expensive Persian rug. His temper was rising. Too bad his intended victim was too oblivious to notice how close he was coming to death.  
  
            “You admit to bringing in the Hyakki koumori?”  
  
            “Something had to be done. The damn tribal humans wouldn’t let anyone mine for the uranium.”  
  
            It was as close to a confession as the idiot had gotten since he had been captured.   
  
            “I see.” He casually leafed through a set of papers on his desk. “It says here that you have ties to Itochu Corp. What is your connection to them?”  
  
            The prisoner clamped his mouth shut and bared his teeth.  
  
            “Could it be that you conspired with your brother-in-law to convince the Navajo Nation to allow mining on their land?” He saw his captive blanch and flinch. “Oh yes. We know of your relation to Serratis. We picked him up this morning. He has been… very cooperative.”  
  
            He was also very dead, but Sesshomaru didn’t see how telling his latest prey that little fact would help his cause any; although he **_had_** considered giving the idiot his brother-in-law’s head just for the pleasure of seeing the terror on the demon’s face.  
  
            “You do know that would be constituted as stealing from me and attempting to usurp my claim,” he said calmly.  
  
            “You were doing nothing! You let those stupid humans tell you no! That uranium is worth millions!” the creature ranted.  
  
            “Did it ever occur to you that there are other ways of gaining access to minerals that do not involve mining? Your ill-planned scheme has upended a number of plans to extract the uranium without the knowledge of the humans living on the land,” he informed. “And what care do I have for millions when billions are already mine? What significance could a small deposit of rare metal have to me when the world is at my feet?”  
  
            He took a step forward, allowing the captive’s growing fear feed his bloodlust. Had Tenseiga not repudiated him when he used it to revive an enemy only to kill him again, he would have done the same now, but the sword pulsed a warning and he pulled Toukijin instead.  
  
            “You brought disgusting carrion-eaters close to my son. You allowed them to kill humans and call attention where no attention should have been. And you endangered the lives of my brother, his wife and my nephew.”  
  
            Seeing the sword, the prisoner trembled and prostrated himself. “Lord Sesshomaru. Forgive me. I will never make that mistake again.”  
  
            “No, you will not.”  
  
            He raised the blade. Toukijin pulsed with feral glee in his hand.  
  
            “My brother’s life belongs to me.”  
  
            He struck, slicing the peon’s head neatly off his shoulders. When the body stopped twitching, he pickled up the phone on his desk and rang his assistant.  
  
            “I need a clean-up crew in my office immediately.”  
  
            “Yes, Nishitaisho-sama, I will call custodial services right away,” the voice on the other end promised.  
  
            He eyed the growing bloodstain on the carpet and scowled.  
  
            “And get me a new rug for my office. This one is soiled beyond repair.”  
  
            He didn’t wait for the acknowledgement before he hung up. Sheathing Toukijin, he stepped over what was left of the up-and-coming demon lord, and walked out of his office.   
  
            He didn’t bother to close the door behind him.  
  



	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Navajo words:  
> Hataalii - medicine man  
> Yah-ta-hey – hello  
> Hozho - harmony

Chapter 15  
  
  
            It was a good thing that Yukio had such a good memory and excellent sense of direction, otherwise he and his mother would have gotten hopelessly lost on the way back to the hogan. As it was, they didn’t get back until well after dark, and they found his father anxiously waiting for them about a mile away from the hogan. Kagome saw a flash of Inuyasha’s silver hair in the light of the headlamps and yelled a warning, so Yukio slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting him when he suddenly popped up in front of the Jeep.  
  
            “Inuyasha!” Yukio heard his mother cry, equal parts fear and exasperation in her voice.   
  
            “Oi! What took you so long?” his father demanded as he got into the Jeep.  
  
            “The nearest gas station was two hours away! Plus we had to do the shopping to get your ramen and food for the ceremony tomorrow,” Kagome answered impatiently.  
  
            “Keh!” his father snorted, crossing his arms as he sat in the rear passenger seat.   
  
            Yukio smiled to himself because he knew his father hated being in the back, then his smile faltered because he remembered how much of a back-seat driver he was.   
  
_‘Hm, maybe it would be best to redirect him...’  
  
_             “Why were you waiting for us and not at the hogan? Did something happen?” he asked, starting out again on the nonexistent road.   
  
            “Feh. As if anything would attack after the ass-kicking we gave out,” Inuyasha snorted.  
  
            “Inuyasha!” Kagome chided, but the elder inu-hanyou was unapologetic.  
  
            “You know I’m right. Now that those damn bats are gone, only an idiot would challenge us now,” his father countered.   
  
            “Only if they knew about it,” his mother argued.  
  
            “Feh! With the gossips on the Council? We’ll be lucky if the news hasn’t reached China by now.”  
  
            “True,” Yukio admitted, both hands on the wheel as he guided the Jeep down the dirt track. It was fortunate his night vision was so good otherwise he would have had no hope of following the faint tire tracks in the hard soil that marked the path.  
  
            “And I have felt a difference in the energy,” his mother admitted thoughtfully. “I think whatever spells that were cast over the bats have been broken.”  
  
            Yukio nodded. He’d felt the change himself. He wondered if that was because the bats were dead or because his uncle had already dealt with the one responsible. His mother had told him that they had found evidence that the high-ranking demon Temeh’s father had suspected was behind the Terror Bats was indeed the actual culprit. If that evidence proved to be true, he knew Sesshoumaru would waste no time in exacting punishment.   
  
            _‘If it was Deveran, his body is probably ashes by now or, knowing Uncle, a putrefying pile of mush,’_ he thought, repressing a shudder. No one ever wanted to get on the wrong side of the Lord of the West.  
  
            If Deveran had put any spells on the area to keep the bats in line, those spells would have been broken upon his demise. He couldn’t say he could pinpoint the actual time when he noticed that the oppressive energy had snapped, only that he’d noted its absence while they were on their trip to the gas station.  
  
            “So what’s been happening while we were gone?” he asked.  
  
            “The brother came back with that Cree who got hurt,” Inuyasha answered.  
  
            “Michael got back with David? Did the RN say if he had a concussion?” Kagome questioned.  
  
            “How should I know?” his father snapped back.  
  
            “Did you ask?” his mother pressed.  
  
            “None of my business.”  
  
            “None of your… Inuyasha, what if we are attacked by a mob tomorrow? Wouldn’t you want to know if David could help or if he’d be out because he is wounded?” Kagome argued.  
  
            “Keh! He’s useless either way. Only one that’s worth anything is the miko. And maybe the old woman. She can hold her own,” his father replied.  
  
            Yukio heard his mother sigh in defeat and smiled. Some things never changed, nor would he wish them to.  
  
            But that line of thought led him to another, one that he had been studiously trying to ignore. Away from Emma’s scent, he was able to look at the situation more objectively, but he still was at a loss as to what to do. He was still apprehensive and resistant to pursuing any kind of relationship with the Cree woman, but at the same time he knew his own senses were betraying him. The entire time they were gone, his demon side searched for her scent and wondered where she had gone.   
  
            He had hoped being away from her would bring clarity, but instead he’d found only more confusion, and it didn’t help that his mother did nothing to hide the fact that she thought Emma would be good for him. Hell, even his father had weighed in on the subject. No one wanted him to be alone anymore. **_He_** didn’t even want to be alone anymore. But he liked his life as it was, and he didn’t want the added complications a relationship would bring.   
  
            At the same time, he wondered if he really had any choice. If his mother was going to train Emma in her powers, she would be spending a lot of time at the house in Alberta, and unless he wanted to relocate to another one of their homes, he was going to have to deal with at least smelling her around even if he engineered it such that he didn’t see her all that much.   
  
_‘But you have to admit that she’s been doing a pretty good job of showing you she’s up to the task. She stood by me, and she wasn’t afraid to stand up to me. Maybe…’  
  
_             He stopped himself when he realized he was gripping the steering wheel so hard that he almost broke it.   
  
_‘I can’t think about that right now. There’s too much else going on. Maybe once we’re back home, I can think about it more seriously. For now… I just can’t deal with it,’_ he decided, then waffled a bit. _‘Maybe I’ll call and talk to Miroku. He’s been dating Ayumi, and it seems to be working out for him…’  
  
_             “Is everything alright?” his mother asked him, making the hamster wheel that had been spinning in his head come to a blessed halt.  
  
            “Yes, Kaa-san, everything is fine,” he assured her, offering her a small smile.  
  
            It looked like she was going to say something further, but she was cut off by their arrival at the hogan. After that, the time was consumed by unloading the boxes upon boxes of food they had bought at the store – ramen included in spades, of course – and in preparations for the ceremony tomorrow.  
  
            At some point while they were away, someone had taken Ben home and arrangements had been made for him to come back in the morning with the sheep. Apparently, the Laughing Party was an all day affair which began with the butchering of the animal and ended several hours later after the food was ready. Yukio had a feeling that tomorrow was going to be a long day.   
  
            He worked in silence, hoping to find solace in keeping busy. Now that it was dark, the temperatures had fallen, and the humans had all gone into the hogan to escape the cold. He and his father stayed outside again because it was too crowded in the small home, and they were joined by Temeh who was forbidden by Ruth from sleeping under the same roof as her unwed granddaughter. The coyote-youkai didn’t seem to be too happy with the decision, but wisely hadn’t fought it.  
  
            He and his father took up guard positions against the hogan, but it was obvious that Temeh’s long journey and lack of sleep were catching up with him. He tried to sit up and guard with them, but he was nodding off as soon as the adrenaline from the day completely wore off. He ended up lying down, curling up between his two silver coyote companions, and passing out, which was fine with Yukio because conversation wasn’t on his list of top ten things he wanted to do with his night, and at least his father could be trusted to respect the silence.  
  
            “You wanna rest?” Inuyasha asked him. “I’ll take first watch.”  
  
            “Thank you, Tou-san, but I’m not tired.”  
  
            “Suit yourself.”  
  
            “Thanks.”  
  
            Sitting there with his back against the hut’s wall, he looked up at the starry night and smiled.  
  
            “What?” his father questioned.  
  
            “I’m having a sense of déjà vu,” he answered. “Didn’t we just do this last night?”  
  
            “Feh. At least tonight we won’t have to worry about any bats showing up.”  
  
            “True. And don’t worry about me starting any deeply philosophical conversations with you tonight either. I am feeling decidedly simplistic.”  
  
            Inuyasha snorted, then barked softly, :Pup okay?:  
  
            He sighed and nodded. :Pup fine,: he replied. “I just want peace tonight. I’ve had my fill of upheaval for today.”  
  
            His father nodded and craned his head to look up at the stars.   
  
            “Do you think we’ll go home tomorrow?” he asked, not trying to hide the wistful tone in his voice.  
  
            “Dunno,” Inuyasha grunted. “Depends.”  
  
            He saw his father jerk his chin towards the sleeping coyote-youkai and understood.  
  
            “I’d like to,” he stated. “I want to take a long, hot shower, and sleep in my own bed. I want Ian to wake me up in the morning and tell me I have to take him to school even though it’s not my day to do it, but he’s asking because he wants me to take him on my bike…”  
  
            “Keh! Good luck with that!” Inuyasha snorted.  
  
            “And I want to smell fresh coffee when I step out of my room and hear Frances singing as she makes breakfast. I want to tease Eri when she complains about the cold in Paris when we have snow in October in Alberta. I want to be able to listen to something other than country & western on the radio, and watch TV, and eat potato chips on the couch…”  
  
            “Feh! You want a lot of things.”  
  
            He shrugged. “But they’re simple things. Things you take for granted until you don’t have them anymore.”  
  
            “I would have thought you’d have learned not to take anything for granted by now,” Inuyasha chided.  
  
            He smiled. “I try not to, but I do admit to having been spoiled as a child.”  
  
            “That was your mother’s doing.”  
  
            He laughed. “Of course, it’s all Kaa-san’s fault. You had nothing to do with it,” he teased.  
  
            “Feh.”  
  
            He sobered and looked at Temeh snuggled between his two companions.   
  
            “But seriously… I am homesick.”  
  
            Inuyasha sighed and slumped his shoulders a bit. “Yeah. Me too.”  
  
              
  
********  
  
  
  
            The rest of the night passed. He dozed on and off, tucking his face into the thick blanket Ruth had let him borrow to ward off the cold. He didn’t think his father slept at all because every time he looked over at Inuyasha, his father looked back. He didn’t know what it was that kept Inuyasha awake all night, but he got the impression that his father was merely keeping watch and guarding their rest. It wouldn’t be the first time the elder hanyou had forgone sleep in order to make sure the sleep of others was undisturbed.   
  
            Temeh hardly moved all night until his two companions got up sometime before dawn. The horizon was just starting to brighten with the first tinges of red when the silver coyotes roused and began to stretch. One nuzzled the young coyote-youkai, and Temeh rolled over with a grunt of protest, but the loss of his fur blankets made him wake a few minutes later.  
  
            Yukio watched as Temeh rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked around to orient himself. He saw the coyote-youkai’s gaze land on him and his father, and he gave the boy a nod in greeting. Temeh nodded back, then yawned and slowly rose to his feet. Yuko saw him head over to the new well, rolling his shoulders and neck to work out the kinks from sleeping on the hard ground, and he splashed his face with cold water from the pump. A few minutes later, they heard the unmistakable cry of an infant, and Temeh swiveled his head around to stare longingly at the closed hogan door.  
  
            Not long after Peter’s cries quieted, the door opened and the Navajos came out to perform the Dawn Way. Temeh stepped up to take the baby from Sara, a tender smile on his face, then he joined Ruth, Sara and Michael as they greeted the new day. Yukio watched for a few moments before noticing that Emma had come out of the hogan, and she was now standing near him, her arms holding a heavy shawl over her shoulders.  
  
            “Good morning,” she greeted.  
  
            “Morning,” he replied, rising to his feet.  
  
            “Water’s on for coffee,” she said.  
  
            “Good. That’s good,” he answered, working out his own kinks.   
  
            His back hurt from sleeping upright and his feet were tingling as the circulation was restored. His father was already up and in the hogan, no doubt checking on Kagome. He cracked a jaw-popping yawn, licking his teeth to get the sweaters off of them, then followed his father into the hut.   
  
            Breakfast was made and eaten, the hogan and the surrounding area were tidied and prepared for guests, and people began arriving for the Laughing Party a couple of hours later. Ben arrived first, with Lori and a couple of new Navajo women that Ruth knew. They brought a decent-sized sheep with them, and Yukio was shocked at how quickly and quietly Ruth slaughtered the sheep with a very sharp knife, then the carcass was hoisted up and hung from a sturdy scaffolding built just for that purpose.   
  
            More relatives arrived, and the women took to skinning and butchering the meat with the efficiency of those who knew exactly what they were doing. He and his father, while being no strangers to killing and preparing their own food, stood out of the way as the Navajo made sure everything was done properly. The meat was cut and cleaned in preparation for cooking, all of the organs reserved. With the Navajo, no part of the sheep was wasted, and everything was used. To do anything less would be to dishonor the animal’s sacrifice.   
  
            The women sliced up vegetables and started a mutton stew in a pot on a propane burner, while others took the intestines and wrapped them around fat to grill over an open fire. The sheep’s trachea, considered a delicacy, was saved for Ruth since she was the one who had done the slaughtering. Within a couple of hours, the feast was in full swing. Someone had brought a large iron trough on legs that was placed over a cook fire built in a hole in the ground, and women were tossing dough into simmering fat to make frybread.   
  
            As outsiders, he and his father stayed out of the way, performing tasks as they were given to them, but mostly observing and trying not to be underfoot. Everywhere there were people gathering, speaking in Dineh, the conversation lively and happy. Kagome, of course, dived right into the fray, Emma beside her, and they could see the two of them navigating the crowd, doing their best to keep up with the goings-on. Yukio endured some measure of notoriety by being the one who had made Peter laugh, and he did his best to be gracious and humbled by all the attention.  
  
            By mid-afternoon, the feast was prepared and the First Laugh Ceremony was set to begin. Sara and Temeh came over to Yukio as he approached a seat that had been made ready for him. Peter had been dressed in a brightly colored Navajo outfit with a large turquoise and silver beaded necklace (no doubt the child’s new concealment spall locus) and little laced moccasins.  
  
            “My people believe that a baby will take on personality traits of the one who makes him laugh for the first time. I cannot think of another person who I would be more proud to see my son imitate,” Sara told him. “You and your family have done so much to help me and my baby, even when we were strangers to you and far away from your home. Thank you for everything you have done for us.”  
  
            She offered him the baby in his soft, blue blanket, and he accepted the child, holding the pup securely in both his arms, Peter’s little head against his chest. He wanted to refute her, to tell her that what he and his family had done was nothing out of the ordinary, but he couldn’t. He understood what they had done, and the affect their actions had had upon the little family, and the entire community. If not for him and his parents, Peter would not be there, and the Terror Bats would still be hunting the reservation, killing sheep and anyone who discovered them.  
  
            The knowledge humbled him, and he merely nodded as he held Peter close.  
  
            “You are most welcome,” he said softly.  
  
            Temeh offered him the seat, and he sat down, Temeh standing behind him, Sara sitting to his right and Ruth on his left. Ruth held a Navajo woven basket filled with rock salt and another with little bags of sweets. These were gifts meant to be given out by the baby to insure that he grew into a generous person. Yukio positioned Peter so that he was sitting up and facing the crowd, and the infant looked out calmly from his place in Yukio’s lap. The baby was fully conscious and aware of what was happening, and he was already reaching for the sweets and salt when the first person stepped up to greet him. Normally, the adult would be the one to “help” the baby pass out the salt and sweets, but it looked like Peter was going to do it all on his own.  
  
            _‘This should be interesting,’_ Yukio thought.  
  
            The first person was Ben, and he reached down to shake Peter’s right hand to welcome him into the community. Peter made a little huffing sound that Yukio recognized as an acknowledgement of a pack member, and then the baby reached for the candy. Yukio hurried to make it look like he was “helping” so as not to attract undue attention to the child, but the _hataalii_ waved a hand.  
  
            “Let him be. Let the people see what he can do,” the shaman said.  
  
            Yukio set his jaw, not convinced that was the best course of action, but nodded.  
  
            The next person to greet the baby was a woman who shook his hand and offered a dish of cooked vegetables. Peter gave her a bag of sweets and sprinkled salt on the food. The woman seemed surprised, but Ben was there and said something in Dineh that made her smile. She spoke a few words to Peter, who huffed at her, then moved off to place the dish on the communal buffet table that had been set up for the food.  
  
            One by one all of the guests came forward to greet the new child until everyone had been given sweets and all the food had been sprinkled with salt, even Lori who looked uncertain at first, but who relaxed when Peter closed his fingers around hers as she shook his hand. When the last person was through, Ben blessed Peter with a traditional Navajo blessing, and everyone sat down to enjoy a well-prepared meal. Yukio was glad to give Peter back to Sara, and he stood up to go through the buffet line himself to get some food.  
  
            “You didn’t look too uncomfortable there,” Emma commented, coming to stand beside him in the line.  
  
            “I’ve had lots of practice holding babies and hiding my true feelings,” he answered, spooning some stew onto a piece of fry bread.   
  
            The Cree woman laughed, and he hid a smile before he let it fade. “I just hope they won’t expect too much from him. He is just a baby.”  
  
            Emma nodded that she understood. “For all of their deep spirituality and superstition, the Navajo are a remarkably pragmatic people.”  
  
            “I’m glad to hear you say that. We need pragmatists.”  
  
            “To counteract all the hopeless dreamers out there?” she teased.  
  
            “Nothing wrong with dreamers. Sometimes you have to dream big otherwise there’s no point in dreaming at all,” he said as he walked away. Thankfully, she let him go.  
  
            Happy to relinquish his front row seat to Sara and Temeh, he sat next to his father who was eating with some apprehension given the amount of peppers used to make the meal.  
  
            “I don’t think it will be too spicy,” Yukio assured him.  
  
            “Feh. Hope not. There’s no indoor plumbing out here.”  
  
            His father’s gruff reply made him laugh, and he happily tucked into his food.  
  
            “Sara told me that the Navajo believe the baby will take on the characteristics of the person who made him laugh,” he said.  
  
            “Keh! It’s a good thing I wasn’t the one to make him laugh then,” his father replied.  
  
            Yukio snorted, but since it was an old argument, he did not comment. The food was good, though not as good as ramen, and there was plenty of it so he didn’t feel bad in going back for seconds.  
  
            As the afternoon progressed, most of their fears that Peter would not be accepted by the Navajo community proved to be unfounded, and both Sara and Temeh appeared to be pleased. Ben’s influence over the other elders, and Ruth’s strong standing within the community, appeared to have gone a long way towards earning Peter’s place in the tribe. The pledge of the new well and the word of what had happened with the Terror Bats also garnered support for the new mother and her otherworldly protectors. The RN _hataalii_ was one of the guests at the ceremony, and the boy whom Yukio had saved from being carried off was there as well. Several of the attendees were also related to the men who had formed the mob that had attacked the hogan, and they had heard the tale of the battle from their family members. Thankfully, none of them appeared to be upset, angry or out for blood. There were a few, however, who were a little wary around them, but that was understandable.  
  
            While it was not plainly discussed, Yukio knew several of the people there were aware of Peter and Temeh’s coyote lineage, and a number of them also seemed to know about him and his family, which didn’t sit so well with him. His family’s secrets were closely guarded, and he did not like so many outsiders knowing about them. But given the circumstances, it would have been impossible for them remain secret once the bats attacked. Too many people had witnessed the fight, and the boy himself had been physically picked up by one of them. It had only been Yukio’s leaping after him, and putting his own body underneath him when they fell, that saved his life.   
  
            Word spread quickly, even in a remote area like the reservation, and the only way for them to counter-effect the grapevine would be to bring in a youkai with significant powers of mental persuasion or telepathy to make the humans forget what they had seen. If things got bad enough, Uncle might decide such a drastic measure was needed, but for now it was probably best just to deal with things as they came. Messing with people’s minds and memories often led to more headaches, both real and imagined.  
  
            People began to take their leave as the sun began to go down, but not before plans were made for several water carriers to bring large water drums to fill for the neighbors the following day. The digging of the new well meant a much-needed local water supply had been provided, and the new pump got almost as much attention as Peter did. Several elders took part in tasting the water from the well and declaring it good. Sara and Temeh said good-bye and thanked their guests as the people were heading out, but Yukio’s high hopes of leaving for home themselves were dashed when his mother offered his and Inuyasha’s help with hauling water in the morning.  
  
            _‘So much for sleeping in my own bed tomorrow night,’_ he thought dourly.   
  
            He and his father had discussed the return trip earlier in the day while they were doing their best to keep from being underfoot. Inuyasha had voiced his decision to donate the Jeep to Sara and her grandmother, provided someone could take him, Kagome, Yukio and Emma to a commercial airport where they could arrange for one of Uncle’s private planes to pick them up and fly them back to Alberta. Yukio had voiced his support of the plan, but apparently no one had briefed his mother before she volunteered them as water carriers.  
  
            _‘Kaa-san, I really wish you would learn to ask us first!’_ he grumbled, but he knew what she would say to that. She would say that they would have volunteered anyway so there was no point in being angry, and she would be right.  
  
            He sighed and resigned himself to another night of sleeping outside on the ground.   
  
            _‘I’m a big boy. I can take it… But my back hurts!’_ he whined to himself.  
  
            Once arrangements were made for the next day, the party slowly disbanded until all that were left were Ben and their original group of nine plus the pup. In keeping with their tradition of community and harmony, the area had been cleaned and left in tidy condition with not a bit of litter or garbage to be seen, and Ruth was looking decidedly pleased with herself.   
  
            “Well, I do believe that went well,” Ben stated, smiling happily.   
  
            “Feh! At least no one tried to kill the pup,” Inuyasha replied.  
  
            “True, and change will come in small steps,” the _hataalii_ said.  
  
            “We can only hope,” Sara added, holding Peter as the pup looked around with interest, then he burbled and pointed a chubby finger at a spot several meters away. A moment later the two silver coyotes who had made themselves scarce for the party appeared from behind a bluff, and they trotted towards them. The one who had been injured was walking much better.  
  
            Peter barked a greeting that the coyotes returned even as they sniffed and greeted Temeh with enthusiasm. Temeh knelt down on one knee to pet and speak to them. Food had been reserved to make sure they had something to eat, and Ruth put a battered metal dish down for the two animals. Both gobbled down the meal with gusto, licking the dish clean in a matter of minutes. Sara put Peter down on the ground when they were done, and the two sniffed and licked at the pup as he giggled and reached for them. Soon they had flanked him and were panting contentedly as they fulfilled their pup-sitting duties.  
  
            “Kohteh and Kohmeh will take good care of him,” Temeh assured them.  
  
            “Tomorrow many of the People will get clean, fresh water from the new well. Their lives will be greatly improved by having good water so close-by,” Ben said. “Already the child’s birth has helped the People.”  
  
            “Oi, old man, don’t forget he’s just a pup,” Inuyasha reminded, eyeing the two coyotes warily.  
  
            “I have not forgotten, but the child’s actions today only further prove my belief that he is meant to help us find our way back to _hozho_ ,” the medicine man replied.  
  
            Ruth said something that made Temeh gasp and Sara blush, and all eyes turned to them as the new mother translated. “Ma’sani’ says the next gathering should be a wedding. That will help to bring harmony.”  
  
            Yukio chuckled. “Yeah, good luck with that. Weddings are exercises in chaos. Trust me, I know.”  
  
            Temeh snorted. “In the eyes of my clan, Sara and I are already married. We have mated for life.”  
  
            Yukio looked at the young youkai and raised an eyebrow, wondering if Temeh meant that, and if he had gone through the ritual of blood sharing that would bond his blood to Sara’s and prolong her life. The expression on Temeh’s face, and the lack of blood-scent on Sara, told him that the coyote-youkai hadn’t, and he wondered if Temeh had told Sara about that little aspect of youkai-human bonding.  
  
            The reminder of the blood ritual brought back memories of Miaka, and the heart-wrenching agony she had put him through when she refused his blood. The wave of memory hit so suddenly and so strongly that it felt like a physical blow, and his stomach roiled. It took every bit of willpower he had to hold back the urge to retch, and even that only lasted long enough for him to excuse himself and retreat to the arroyo where he promptly vomited up everything he’d eaten in the last few hours. The mutton stew didn’t taste so good coming back up.  
  
            When he was finished, he tried to rinse out his mouth from the stream he and his father had created, but the taste of the water made him throw-up again. He ended up sitting in the damp soil at the bottom of the crevasse, his back pressed to the jagged rocks, weeping as he stifled the howls that threatened to come out. He’d been doing so well, he’d thought. All day he had done a good job of not thinking about Emma or his loneliness or his past. Instead he’d concentrated on the pup, on his duties, and tried to avoid anything that involved thinking about his current situation, Emma included, and to her credit Emma had been doing a good job of leaving him alone. Score one for her actually listening to his mother. But now all his efforts to avoid thinking about what was happening had resulted in him sobbing, alone, at the bottom of a ditch.  
  
            As he lay there, panting, tears still streaming down his face, he wondered how long it would take for someone to find him. He hoped it wouldn’t be Emma; he hoped that she, or at least his mother, would have the good sense to know the Cree woman was the last person he wanted to see. Who actually did come to check on him was a bit of a surprise.  
  
            He heard sniffing, and then a whine, and soon a furry, silver head was peering at him from above. He didn’t know which of the twins it was because he couldn’t tell them apart, but it didn’t matter. The youkai-coyote hopped down into the arroyo and came to press against legs. Yukio threaded his fingers into the thick fur and accepted the comfort that was offered.  
  
            “You smell of sadness,” Temeh’s voice came down to him, and he looked up to see the boy sitting at the top of the chasm with his legs dangling over the edge.  
  
            “It’s nothing for you to be concerned with,” he replied.  
  
            Temeh grunted, but did not do what Yukio had hoped, which was go away. Instead the young coyote-youkai jumped down to join him, and he perched on a crag near Yukio’s shoulder.  
  
            “Does this have anything to do with your mate who died?”   
  
            He avoided answering by asking a question. “Have you blood-bound her yet?”  
  
            “No. She still has growing to do. So do I. In a few years, I’ll do it. Did you not bind your mate to your blood?”  
  
            “I did.”  
  
            He could sense the boy’s confusion and didn’t blame him.   
  
            “We were mated for over two hundred years,” he clarified.  
  
            “Was she killed by an enemy or in an accident?”  
  
            “No. She… she decided one day that she did not want to be mated to me any longer, so she refused new infusions of my blood. It took her years to die, but she finally did.”  
  
            “You took care of her until the end?”  
  
            “Of course. She was my mate. I loved her.”  
  
            Temeh huffed. “She did not love you,” he stated bluntly.  
  
            “So I have been told,” he replied drolly, rolling his eyes. He was so tired of people telling him that his wife hadn’t loved him.  
  
            “My uncle tried to kill himself after his pup was murdered and his mate rejected him,” Temeh said conversationally.  
  
            “I think I would have tried if I hadn’t had my family to lean on. My mother helped me through it,” he confessed.  
  
            “Your mother is a very special woman. Your father is very lucky.”   
  
            “Yes, we know. Our lives have been blessed.”  
  
            “My parents are good to each other, but theirs is an arranged marriage. They stayed together after the contract for pups was fulfilled because they liked each other well enough, but it’s no great love like your parents have or like I have with Sara.”  
  
            He wanted to counter that the youngster was a child who had no concept of love, but he kept his mouth shut because he didn’t want the argument.  
  
            “I knew Sara before I met her. I dreamed about her. I knew she was the one from the moment we met because I recognized her,” Temeh explained. “When you meet The One, you know.”  
  
            He grunted a non-committal answer, and tried not to flinch when the boy put a hand on his shoulder.   
  
            “Come back to the hogan. The others are worried about you, and my son is missing his mentor. Come back to the living. It is no good to walk with the dead for too long. It will only bring you more pain.”  
  
            “I’ll be along in a bit. Don’t worry about me,” he replied.  
  
            The fingers on his shoulder tightened briefly then released. “As you wish, but Kohmeh will stay with you. It is no good for you to be alone.”  
  
            Temeh stood up and Yukio knew he was preparing to leave.   
  
            “What will you do now?” he asked.  
  
            “The pup has been born, the pact between my clan and the Navajo has been renewed, and Peter has been accepted into the community. All that’s left now is to tell my parents.”  
  
            “When are you planning to do that?”  
  
            Temeh sighed. “Tomorrow. I’ll call them in the morning. They’re due to get back from Europe on Sunday. What will you and your family do now?”  
  
            He shrugged. “Go home, I guess. Once we know Sara and the pup are safe.”  
  
            “They are. I won’t let anything happen to them,” the coyote-youkai promised.  
  
            “Good. We’ll hold you to that. My father will be keeping tabs on you, I hope you know that,” he warned.  
  
            “There are worse things, and it is good to have such a powerful youkai family on our side. While I don’t agree with what my mate’s brother did, I am glad he did it.”  
  
            “Yeah, well, I hope it works out well for all of us.”  
  
            “Me too. Don’t stay out here too long.”  
  
            With that, Temeh leaped out of the crevasse, leaving him alone with the silver youkai-coyote. He stayed in the arroyo for another half-hour, ignoring the damp seeping into his jeans and the growing hunger in his empty stomach. No one else came to bother him, and for that he was glad. When he finally got his emotions and head under control, he left the arroyo and made his way back to the hogan.   
  
            It was almost dark. Ben was gone and so was Michael’s truck, so he could only assume that the Navajo man had taken the _hataalii_ home. The fire in the pit was still burning, and most everyone was sitting around it, drinking coffee and talking quietly. His mother stood up as he approached, but he waved for her to sit down again.  
  
            “I’m fine, Kaa-san. I just need to change clothes. My jeans are wet.”  
  
            She nodded and gave him space as he retrieved a clean pair of pants from his bag and went into the hogan to change. His eyes fell on the barrel that served both as the heater and cookstove, and he made a mental note to be sure that it got replaced with a much safer, genuine wood stove before he and his family left for home. A fire was already lit in the barrel to warm the hogan, so he put a pot of water on the top to boil for ramen. Again, no one bothered him as he changed clothes, brushed his hair, and ate a solitary meal, but his reprieve didn’t last long after that as Sara came into the hut.   
  
            “You bleed inside,” she said softly. “You grieve too much. The dead hold you. They make you sick.”  
  
            “I’m fine,” he assured her, even as his stomach mildly protested the food. He did keep it down, though.  
  
            “Life is for the living, not the dead. You need to let go. If you were Dineh, I would ask Ben to perform a cleansing ceremony to purge you of this darkness.”  
  
            He sighed. He didn’t want to get into a conversation about his dead wife.   
  
            Sara went to a rack of shelves that served as a crude pantry, and she began to gather some herbs which she crushed into a coffee mug and then poured boiling water over. She handed him the drink with a serious expression on her face.  
  
            “Your family has done so much for us. I want to do this for you. This tea will help purge you of the unwanted spirit, the one that clings to you and keeps you from healing. It is not the same as a true purification ceremony, but it will help. I will speak to your mother and tell her what else is to be done.”  
  
            He could smell the herbs, and he recognized at least one of them.   
  
            “Thank you.”  
  
            She nodded once and left him alone. He drank the bitter tea because he did not want to insult his host, but oddly he did feel better after drinking it. He finished the tea and his food, and stood up to exit the hogan.   
  
            Maybe it was time to re-join the living after all.  
  



	17. Chapter Sixteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s note: OMG! A new chapter. When I opened the document to see if I could possibly write on this again because several people have asked me about it, and I felt bad for letting it languish, I wasn’t expecting this to come out. 
> 
> You need to know that most of this chapter is a flashback from another character’s POV. I won’t tell you whose POV because I don’t want to spoil it, but the flashback portions are written in italics. 
> 
> After this chapter, Coyote Child is all but finished. Two chapters left at most, maybe only one. Hopefully it will not be another 4 ½ years before I get Chapter 17 finished.

Chapter Sixteen  
  
Everyone was still sitting around the fire when he emerged from the hogan, but the night had a decided bite for those outside the circle of warmth. Having slept outside the last two nights, he knew how cold it could get up in the high desert, but he didn’t mind it. He liked the cold; he found it bracing, and cold air heightened his sense of smell. He tipped his chin up and inhaled deeply, then he held it and let it out slowly so he could sift through the different scents and catalog them. His father had taught him the technique centuries ago, but he had never forgotten it.   
  
An inu-youkai relied on scent to tell him everything. They saw the world through their noses, and right now the world smelled of ash and lingering scents of food, of coffee and fried bread, of wool and denim and leather, of human and non-human, of young and old, male and female, mother and child. All of this with a multitude of other minor scents that painted a nearly 3-dimensional picture of the rustic scene before him.  
  
Room was made for him as he came over to the group, and someone handed him a mug of coffee as he sat down on the ground. The warmth from the fire and the drink made him smile, and he let the quiet conversations swirl around him as he listened with half an ear. Out on the dark plain, wild animals were scurrying about their business of staying alive, and their scuttles, grunts, yips and swishes all added to the landscape he was painting in his mind.  
  
A youkai’s brain was like an art museum: rooms upon rooms of pictures, some abstract, some realistic, each painting representing a memory. And each youkai could access any painting he wanted at will and see the memory in vivid detail. Not all youkai had photographic memories, but a shocking number of them did, and it had been his experience that even the so-called “dumb” ones still had the gift of total recall – even if the amount of storage space they had was limited.   
  
Sometimes this talent could be a curse. He knew at least two cautionary tales where a youkai got lost in memory and could no longer tell between dream and reality. He often wondered if the tales weren’t skewed towards the survivors. Certainly the dreamers, having no idea that they were trapped in a false reality, had no knowledge that anything was amiss. The tales said the victims wasted away in the real world while their minds wandered false, dream paths.   
  
There were youkai out there who fed on the life force of others. They would inject their victims with a hallucinogenic poison that would trap them in a dream world of their own making. The youkai would then feed at leisure, often keeping the victim alive for days, until it was drained dry, never aware of what was happening or waking from their fantasy. Yukio imagined that it would be a pleasant way to die.  
  
Movement to his left brought him out of his thoughts, and he opened his eyes to see his mother sit down beside him. Her face belied her worry, but she didn’t prod him to talk, and for that he was grateful. He’d give her answers, if he had any to give, but he didn’t, so he stayed quiet and sipped his coffee. Shortly thereafter, he felt her shoulder press against his, and he sighed, comforted by the touch and silent support.  
  
After a while, Ruth stood up and bid them all a goodnight. The temperature had fallen sharply, and her old bones had started to ache. It wasn’t long after that his mother retired with Sara and the baby. Emma followed, along with David who was allowed to sleep inside the hogan because he was still recovering from his head injury. The RN had determined that his skull was not fractured, but there was a risk of subdural hematoma and swelling. He had been given some pain medications and cautioned to take it easy and go to a hospital if he started getting headaches, experienced trouble with his vision, or had any blackouts. The man had been quiet all day, even during the party, but he didn’t seem to be in too much distress.   
  
With everyone else inside the hogan, the only ones left outside where himself, his father, and Temeh with his two furry bodyguards. Since none of them really felt the cold, they let the fire go out and assumed their defensive positions against the side of the small home, ready to fight if any threats arrived.  
  
“I’ll take first watch,” Inuyasha said gruffly.   
  
Yukio nodded and hunched his shoulder against the wind, lifting the blanket he was using to cover his back and hips.   
  
“You gonna be able to sleep?” his father asked, which was his way of asking his son if he was okay.   
  
“I think so. It’s been a long day.”  
  
“Feh. Been a long few days.”  
  
Yukio hummed an agreement. “I’m looking forward to going home.”  
  
“Me too,” Temeh said, snuggling down between his companions.   
  
“You gotta call your parents tomorrow,” Inuyasha reminded.  
  
“I know. I will.”  
  
There were a few moments of silence, then his father added, “They give you trouble, you let me know.”  
  
It took a few seconds for the coyote-youkai to reply, but he eventually spoke in a subdued voice, “I will. Thank you.”  
  
“Keh,” Inuyasha grunted and turned away, but Yukio gave the boy a reassuring smile.  
  
Temeh looked back at him from amid his pile of silver fur and returned the smile shyly.   
  
Yukio nodded and closed his eyes, hoping to get at least a little rest. When he opened his eyes again, he was no longer in the high desert, but on a cantilevered lanai that overlooked the Tasman Sea.  
  
_‘I know this place…’_ he thought, confused _. ‘This is where I brought Miaka after I made her leave Japan.’  
  
_ Kidnapped was more like it. He’d drugged her and forced her into the cargo hold of a trawler bound for the southern islands. He’d had to. The Bombs were coming, and they had to get out of Japan. But Miaka was refusing to leave, and he’d grown more panicked and desperate every day. They’d made their escape with only days to spare, but Miaka had never forgiven him for his deception.  
  
The house he’d brought her to was a sprawling mansion with unobstructed views of the ocean, but Miaka had hated it from the moment she’d opened her eyes and realized that they were no longer in Japan.  
  
He looked down at his hands and realized he was holding a plate of bamboo shoots, new ones freshly picked and one of Miaka’s favorites. Memory washed over him, and he dared to look up, dreading the scene that he would witness.  
  
Sure enough, there she was, seated on a metal chair and wrapped in a dark komon kimono and haori to ward against the wind. Her hair was in a loose bun, her eyes dark and vacant as she looked out at the sea.   
  
_‘I remember this… It was March 1946, right after the Bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki…’  
  
_ Seeing her there was like ripping open a deep wound, but he knew how this day had gone, and he recreated the scene. He cleared his throat as he approached her, announcing his presence and presented her with the gift.   
  
“Here, Beloved,” he stated gently, placing the small plate on the little café table.  
  
He knew she would reject it, shoving the plate off the table with a flick of her hand. The plate smashed into a hundred pieces on the stone lanai, and he flinched.  
  
“Miaka… will you ever forgive me?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.  
  
She met his eyes with a stony glare. “No.”  
  
He sighed and turned away, defeated.   
  
“Is it even there?” he heard her ask.  
  
“Hmm?”  
  
“Japan? Is it even there? You refuse to bring me any newspapers or allow me to listen to any broadcasts. Is it Spring? Will there be Sakura blossoms amid the rubble and the dead?”  
  
Her words stung, but he did not rise to her bait. “It is there. Many died, but Japan will survive. They will recover and rebuild, and make a better country than they themselves could ever dream of.”  
  
“So your mother says,” she stated with scorn.  
  
“You know she speaks the truth. Okaa-san would never lie to you.”  
  
She didn’t answer, and he didn’t argue. Sighing, he left her to her solitude and walked away. A year later, on that very lanai, she would refuse the infusion of his blood, and set herself on the path to death.  
  
His perspective changed suddenly, and he found himself looking at his own face through someone else’s eyes. It was disorienting at first, but he shook it off, trying to figure out what was happening. His eyes fell on his own hand, but it was a woman’s hand, a woman’s hand he knew well because he had placed the wedding ring upon it. It was Miaka’s hand, and she was dressed in a dark red and gold brocade uchikake. He recognized it, recognized the box he was holding in his own hands as he approached her.  
  
_‘No…’_ he cried, panicked. He knew what was about to happen, and he didn’t want to witness it. _‘No, please! What is happening?’_  
  
His perspective shifted again, and he was dropped unceremoniously into Miaka’s memories…  
  
****  
  
_My husband places the dark wooden box on the glass-topped table that shares the patio with me. It is a sunny day and the wind coming off the ocean is crisp and clean. I knew he would be coming today so I have dressed for the occasion. One or two of my servants are sympathetic to my cause and warned me of my demonic lover’s arrival. It seems almost ironic that they should flock to my side when, if not for my husband spiriting them out of Japan when we made our escape, they would be dust beneath the Americans’ feet, but I digress.  
  
I have chosen a kimono of pure silk with a brocade uchikake of deep red and gold. I have put up my hair in the style of a proper wife and painted my face pale. It took me hours to dress and do my make-up, but I am the picture perfect Japanese wife: silent and demure.  
  
Do not mistake me. I have not done this to please him or to curry his favor. I have done this because I know he will hate it. I look fake and my scent is altered by the cosmetics. My message is not one of a loving wife, but to tell him that I think he sees me as a doll: a living, life-sized doll. What else am I to him but his plaything? I married him when I was sixteen. I was young, foolish and innocent. I had no concept of the fate that awaited me the moment I took his clawed hand and promised to be his faithful mate.   
  
My family tried to warn me. My mother burst into tears when my father announced that he had approved Yukio-sama’s bid for my hand. My sisters were all horrified and my brother threatened to kill me before he let me wed a demon. But my father was a shrewd man. He knew that allowing his youngest daughter to marry into a demon’s household would insure that his family would always be protected, and so I was traded like goods for services. My life and happiness in exchange for the safety and security of his family.  
  
At the time I went willingly, happily even. I was deeply in love with the demon from the forest, with his beautiful silver hair, golden eyes, and flawless, ageless face, and I was ecstatic to be his bride. He wooed me expertly and treated me as he would a fine noblewoman, and not the merchant’s daughter that I was. He dressed me in the finest clothes and built the largest house for me with all the modern amenities available at the time. He never raised a hand or his voice to me, unlike my sisters’ husbands who were known to beat them on occasion, and I never had cause to doubt his fidelity. Also unlike my sisters’ husbands who frequented tea houses and took numerous mistresses. Oh no, not my husband. His kind are strictly monogamous. Once a mate is taken, they remain faithful unto death. No exceptions.   
  
My life for the first forty years of our marriage was an idyllic dream, and I lived in a blissful haze of comfort and security. It wasn’t until my siblings started to die that I truly understood the nightmare I had been sold into, as I watched my relatives grow old and bent with age while I remained forever youthful. The horror of it finally reached me, and I knew my father had traded me to the devil. My paradise became my hell, but I was too afraid of death to refuse the infusions of demonic blood. I watched my brother and sisters die while I cowardly prolonged my own life and hid behind my preternatural lover. Now I am being punished for my weakness and I understand the fate I must escape.   
  
I am no longer afraid of death.  
  
“Miaka, my beloved,” my husband says to me in his soft voice.   
  
He keeps it low and tender, as if he is speaking to a wounded animal. Is that what he thinks of me? That I am not a doll but a pet to be placated and pampered? I have seen the tiny dogs kept by the royal houses, simpering useless animals no good for anything other than taking up space. Their equally useless owners even style their long fur to mimic the elaborate court hair-dos and treat them as surrogate children. The very thought of being treated like one of those dogs makes me shudder.  
  
“Miaka, it is time,” he tells me, drawing my attention to the carved box.  
  
He opens the lid and draws out the syringe. The casing is forged steel, but the needle itself is made from a sharpened, hollowed fragment of demonic bone strong enough to pierce his skin. There is a normal hypodermic needle that fits on the tube in the box as well. Once he draws his own blood into the syringe, he will swap the demon needle for the metal one. The demon bone would skewer my flesh like a spear if he were to use it on me and would most certainly collapse my vein.   
  
I watch as he rolls up his sleeve, a tourniquet clenched in his teeth as he prepares his arm. I know what I must do, but there is still a fear of reprisal. Yes, he has never raised his hand to me, but will my rebellion snap something inside of him? His father is famous for his temper, but the son took after his mother in more ways than one.   
  
“No,” I say. A simple word. It passes my lips without a tremble, but inside I am quaking.  
  
What will he do to me now?  
  
He freezes and looks at me, his eyes confused.  
  
“Beloved?”  
  
“No,” I repeat, more forcefully this time as I clench my fists.  
  
I see a myriad of emotions cross his face: confusion, followed by disbelief and guilt as understanding comes to him, then sadness when he realizes what I am saying.  
  
“If you do not take my blood, you will…” He stops, his gaze falling to his feet.   
  
We both know what will happen if I refuse the transfusion. I have lived for 236 years.   
  
That is 160 years too long.   
  
_ *****  
  
Yukio wretched and twisted, trying to break out of the memories, but he couldn’t. Whatever evil magic that had been cast had trapped him in his dead wife’s mind, and he was helpless against the onslaught of her anger, hatred, and grief. He screamed, pounding against the invisible walls of his cell, but he could not break out or wake up. Instead, his nails scraped helplessly against a smooth surface as he was sucked back in.  
  
]*****   
  
_He has asked me every month for the past six months and each time I have refused his blood. At first, I was fearful that he would force it upon me as he had forced me out of Japan, but my demon husband is a noble creature and he would never stoop so low as to make me accept the transfusion. Now he circles around me like a tethered dog, acquiescing to my slightest whim in hopes of gaining my favor long enough for me to accept the hated syringe.  
  
He has all but cut ties with his parents, a significant concession on his part given how close he is to his mother, and he has ceased his frequent business trips in order to stay close to me. His devotion is endearing or it would be if I wasn’t so repulsed by it. I can barely stand the sight of him, let alone endure his company for an extended period of time.   
  
He has asked me repeatedly why I have refused him. He has told me numerous times that I will die without the blood. I have replied that I do not wish to live in a world where tens of thousands of innocent people can be slaughtered with a single weapon. I have seen pictures smuggled in to me by my faithful hand servant. The heat from the bomb was so intense that shadows were permanently burned into the concrete. Bodies were vaporized upon impact and thousands died of radiation poisoning afterwards. The devils chose a civilian target just to prove that they could destroy Japan with one strike.   
  
Not even the worst of the demons my husband has ever faced could even come close to the depraved evil infecting the hearts of humans. I am ashamed to be counted among them, if I can even be considered human any longer given the amount of demon blood that has been injected into my veins. I had thought the bloodshed and violence of the era I had been born into was the apex of humanity’s love affair with death, but it seems that I was mistaken. Humanity has only just begun to explore its destructive streak.   
  
How many more innocent lives will be lost? Mine can be counted among them. I died when my husband took me from Japan. Now all that is left is for my body to join my heart and soul.  
_  
*****  
  
The memory shifted again, leaving him dazed and nauseous. When his vision cleared, he recognized their house in British Honduras. Five years had passed since Miaka’s first refusal, and he had moved them from Australia to South America to be closer to his family. He barely had time to orient himself when he was once again dropped into his wife’s mind.  
  
*****  
  
_My demon husband has moved me to a new cell. My prison is now located on a remote cliff overlooking the Caribbean Sea where he has built me yet another house. He has done this in order to be closer to the North American empire his family is building, and he knew I would never set foot on American soil. The murdering bastards can rot in the lowest levels of hell for all I care. I will never cross their borders or have anything to do with them for what they have done. The very fact that my husband enters that cursed country makes my stomach turn. Doesn’t he care at all for the thousands of innocent people the Atomic Bomb murdered?  
  
He tells me that they are sorry for the terrible destruction, and shows me how they are being so noble and helpful in the rebuilding of Japan. I spit in his face. Nothing could ever make up for what they did. They cannot bring back the dead. They cannot cleanse the soil of their poisons. I hear that the radiation has spread and infected water supplies all over the world. And I hear that more countries are developing this horrible death bomb.  
  
To keep peace they say. What peace can be achieved by the threat of total destruction? This world and everyone in it has gone mad. Am I the only one who is sane?  
  
At least I know that my time here will end soon. I sealed my fate when I refused his blood, but I have made peace with my decision even if my husband has not. He still asks me, although not nearly as frequently, and I continue to say no.  
  
I cannot say that the years have been kind. As the effects of the last transfusion completely fade from my blood, the aging process that was suspended for so long appears to be making up for lost time. My hair has become touched with gray, and I can feel the weight of my age on my shoulders. Aches and pains that never existed before now haunt my footsteps, and I sleep much more than I once did.  
  
My husband has brought numerous doctors to examine me, both human and demon specialists in their fields. All have said that they can do nothing to help my condition. The demon doctors insist that the only cure for my ailment is for me to accept my husband’s blood. Since nothing he says or does will sway me from my decision, I must resign myself to the discomfort that now plagues me.   
  
“Beloved,” my husband says to me as he enters the salon where I spend my days.   
  
Like the house in Australia, this one has uninterrupted views of the sea and large, open verandas facing the water. My bedroom is directly off one of these verandas with sculpted stone archways and windows draped in light colored fabric. The sheer linen curtains blowing in the wind are almost identical to the tendrils of his white hair that are caught in the same salt-laden breeze.  
  
“What do you want, Yukio?” I ask coldly, folding my arms over my chest.  
  
He looks away, his golden eyes downcast and sad.  
  
“I… I came to tell you that I’ll be leaving for Paris in the morning. I’ll be gone for three weeks.”  
  
I say nothing. What can I say? It is not like I care if he leaves, if anything I prefer it because looking at him has become increasingly difficult.  
  
“Is there anything you would like me to bring back for you?”  
  
“No,” I reply, letting my arms fall to my sides.   
  
His purses his lips and nods. “Is there anything you need before I go?”  
  
“There is nothing that I require.”  
  
“A new dress, perhaps? I’m sure I’ll have time to shop in the fashion district.”  
  
I look at him slyly. “Will your sister be there?” I ask shrewdly.  
  
He blinks and I see a slight flush come to his cheeks. I try hard not to smirk. I know he will not lie to me so I have him trapped.   
  
“Eri might be there,” he admits reluctantly.  
  
“And your mother?”  
  
“Okaa-san will be in Calgary.”  
  
He didn’t hesitate when he answered me so I know that he has not bent the truth in order to keep from lying. That means he won’t be seeing his mother. I cannot help but feel a small thrill of satisfaction. I’ll never see my mother again. She’s been dead for almost two centuries. Why should he see his mother when I cannot? I know it is petty, but sometimes pettiness and bitterness are all I have left.  
  
“Miaka, I… Won’t you consider coming with me? You haven’t been to Paris since we… exchanged vows,” he cajoles me, raising his left hand so that I can see the golden wedding ring on his finger.  
  
Ah, yes. I remember now. The last time we were in Paris it was our 160 th wedding anniversary, and we exchanged vows and wedding rings in the European custom. Silly little sentimental ceremony. He cried when I put the ring on his finger. Emotional fool. He can slaughter a dozen enemies without remorse or mercy, but a plain gold band can make him weep like a child. Why is it that all the things I used to find so endearing about him now only instill in me a bitter tasting disgust?  
  
He looks at me and I realize that I have not given him an answer. I suppose he expects one right away. Does he honestly think I will go anywhere with him? If he does, he is a bigger fool than even I thought.  
  
“Miaka, will you come to Paris with me? Please?”  
  
“No, Yukio. I will not go to Paris. You have prepared for me such a beautiful prison, I would be remiss if I were to leave such a well-appointed cell,” I answer, waving a hand at the veranda and the sea.  
  
He sighs and clenches his fists in frustration. “This house is not a prison, and I am not your jailer. I am your mate and I adore you. I built this house for you. I want you to be happy here.”  
  
“If you truly want me to be happy, you will take me back to Japan and let me die there,” I say coldly, clenching my own fists.  
  
“It’s too soon to return, Miaka. I promise you, the moment it is safe for us to go back, I will take you back myself and build you a new house anywhere you like,” he promises, his eyes pleading with me to understand.  
  
“So we stay here, like cowards, while the poor souls who had no means of escape are left to suffer. While we stay here wallowing in our luxuries, our people drink poisoned water and breathe air heavy with the stench of death. How can you bear to live with yourself, knowing what you have done Yukio? How can you stand the coward you have become?” I seethe.  
  
“Miaka, you are my country. You are my homeland and my universe. Wherever you are is home to me, whether it be Japan, or Australia, or here. My nation is the place where you are queen.”  
  
His words give me pause. Not because they make him seem weak, but because they are so heartfelt. Even after I have scorned him, refused him and despised him, his love for me is still unbroken. How is it that he can still love me after all I have done to him?   
  
“There was a time when a loyal subject would willingly give his life for his ruler. Any man with honor would have killed himself long before now,” I snap, his love for me only making me angry. I am a spiteful, hateful bitch who does not want or deserve his devotion.  
  
He snarls, baring his sharp fangs, and draws himself up to his full height. He can cut a very impressive figure when he chooses to. He has always been his most magnificent when he is wrathful. His anger thrills me. Will he strike me? Will he finally punish me for all that I have done?  
  
“I did what I had to do to save you, Miaka. I don’t feel sorry for it, and I don’t regret it for a moment. If I had to do it over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.”  
  
“Then I shall have to remind you every day of your foolishness until you do regret it, until you take me back home to die.”  
  
He clenches his fists, and I know that he’s squeezing hard enough to puncture his own palms. He stands that way, throwing daggers at me with his eyes, until he suddenly sighs and deflates like a popped balloon. He drops his eyes as he hangs his head, his hands relaxing and I can see the droplets of blood splashing on the tile floor.  
  
“I… I am sorry that you feel that way, my beloved. I… I will bring you back something pretty from Paris,” he whispers, turning away.  
  
“What I want is death, Yukio,” I tell him.  
  
He glances at me over his shoulder but I cannot see if he is crying.  
  
“That is the one thing I cannot give you, my beloved. I am sorry.”  
  
With that he leaves me alone on the veranda, and I am left with my hate and impotent rage. As the anger fades the guilt comes as it always does. I know I am killing him as much as I am killing myself, but there is nothing I can do about it. This is the only way.  
  
“I’m sorry too,” I say to the salt-air around me.  
  
_*****  
  
A year later, she would break her ankle while out on a shopping trip to the local market. A little boy would run into her and knock her into a vendor’s fruit cart. Her bones, already becoming more brittle and weak from her advanced age, would snap, and he would find himself running into a hospital in Belize City to find her drugged up on pain killers in a small bed. He could have used his influence on her then, to convince her to take his blood, but he hadn’t. He never knew if she was grateful for that or not.   
  
His sister, Mariko, would come to live with them after that, and he had been happy for her calming, healing presence.   
  
The world spun again, and he was snared back into Miaka’s memories. He braced himself for what he would witness, not understanding what was happening or why. Maybe it was the tea Sara had given him. She said that it would help purge him of his ghosts. Maybe it did that by forcing you to face the dead.   
  
The scene before him was still in Belize, but a few years have passed since Mariko broke her ankle. She was aging much faster now, her once black hair completely white and she had cut it because it had started falling out. She was much frailer and thinner sitting on a plush chair in her salon, and his heart ached.   
  
_‘I wonder if this is how Scrooge felt in A Christmas Carol, forced to witness, but not be able to change what happens…’  
  
_ He watched as Mariko came into the room, followed by a maid carrying a lunch tray.  
  
*****   
  
_“Miaka-san,” Mariko says as she comes into my salon. Behind her one of the maids is carrying a tray with our lunch.  
  
“Mariko-san,” I greet from my seat on the veranda.  
  
My sister-in-law looks out to the sea and smiles. “It is a lovely day.”  
  
“The weather is changing. My ankle hurts,” I reply.  
  
She smiles gently. “And I would trust your ankle over the predictions of a meteorologist on any day.”  
  
I laugh softly as the maid places the lunch tray on my side table. “Gracias, Rosa,” I say.  
  
Rosa nods at me, her eyes lowered. She has been one of our maids for five years and she has seen a great deal. She is one of two full-blooded humans in a household comprised of demons and those with varying degrees of demon blood. I know she must suspect something is not quite right with her employer and his family, but she is smart enough to keep her mouth shut. We pay her well enough to buy her silence, and we treat her better than 99% of the employers out there so she has no reason to complain. And if my quickly graying hair and my seemingly ageless husband makes her nervous, she hides it well.  
  
She removes the covers from both trays, places my napkin on my lap and gives us both a bow as she leaves us to our meal. Mariko comes to sit across from me and we begin to eat.  
  
“Where is my husband today?” I ask.  
  
“Yukio went up to Corozal. He will be back tomorrow.”  
  
I nod and sip my tea.  
  
I suppose it can be said that I have mellowed with age. I still refuse to accept his blood and he has, thankfully, stopped asking, but I no longer harbor the vitreous hate for him that I once did. Perhaps I am simply too tired to despise him any longer.   
  
Mariko sits across from me and picks up her teacup. She is right. It is a lovely day. The wind picks up the strands of her long hair and blows them awry. I see her smile and turn her face into the breeze.  
  
“Ah, Wind Baby wants to play today,” she muses.  
  
“Wind Baby always plays here. I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed a day when there wasn’t a breeze,” I answer.  
  
“I think this has to be one of the most beautiful views I’ve ever seen.”  
  
I cast a glance at the blue ocean. “I’ve seen better,” I say absently.  
  
“Mm,” my sister-in-law replies noncommittally.  
  
“Do you think Yukio will ever take me back to Japan?” I ask wistfully, staring out at the waves.  
  
There is a long pause then she answers my question with one of her own, “Do you think you will ever accept his blood?”  
  
“No,” I tell her simply.  
  
“Then I do not know if you will live long enough for him to take you back.”  
  
There is no anger or accusation in her voice. If anything the lack of emotion is more disconcerting than if she had been vindictive or gloating.  
  
“Am I that close to death?” I question.  
  
“I don’t know. To be honest I’ve never directly experienced a situation like this before.”  
  
“So you don’t know how much longer I have,” I state, still not looking at her.  
  
Her hand covers mine and I turn my head to see her reaching across the table.   
  
“No, but I will tell you that I will stay here with you until the end.”  
  
Her vow brings me comfort and my heart fills with gratitude. “Thank you, Mariko-san.”  
  
“You are welcome, Miaka-san.”  
  
We both smile at each other, small, understanding smiles, then I turn away again and there is a long period of silence between us. I can hear Mariko eating her lunch, but mine remains untouched. I don’t have much of an appetite these days.  
  
“I am not afraid,” I say finally.  
  
“I know.” Her answer is once again devoid of emotion. I meant it when I said that Mariko is like cool water: chilling and deep.  
  
“Do you hate me?” I ask. I know that she will answer me truthfully, if she chooses to answer me at all.  
  
“No.”  
  
“Why? I hate me.” It’s true. Sometimes I don’t know who I hate more, myself or my husband. And sometimes I wonder if I hate my husband only because I hate myself.  
  
“You are my sister-in-law,” she replies, as if that explains everything. “For a time you made my brother very happy. You could do so again, if you chose to. Your death will make him very sad. But the choices you make are yours alone, and I cannot make them for you. I can only be here to bear witness. My path is one of harmony. I seek to bring everything in balance.  
  
“Right now, the balance between you and my brother is badly skewed. I know that my presence here helps even the scale. Whether you choose to live or choose to die, one way or the other, the scale will have to tip until it breaks. Once it does, only then will you both be free. Whether you are free together or free apart is yet to be determined.”  
  
I don’t look at her. I know she doesn’t lie and I laugh inwardly. I had to join a family of demons to find true honesty. The darkness in the human heart permits it to lie, to cheat, to steal. These creatures which have been so slandered and maligned are more honorable than any human I have ever known.  
  
She did not tell me these things to hurt me. She has spoken her truth from her heart and deep inside my soul I know that she is right.  
  
“As for my hating you,” Mariko continues. “I cannot hate you. It is not in my nature to hate. Nor is it in the nature of my brother. Oh, we are capable of great rage and destruction. Many of us can kill without remorse or pity, but I am not like that. Besides, the situation is far too sad for hatred. Do you know the real reason why it is so frowned upon for our kind to mate with yours?”  
  
I turn my head to meet her unwavering gaze. “Because the children would be hybrids; half-demon, half-human,” I answer.  
  
“Hanyou children are not as despised as they once were,” my sister-in-law corrects gently. “In fact, demon-human crossbred children are becoming more and more valuable as humans conquer more of the world. No, it is not the children that are the reason why our kind should not inter-marry. It is because the human lifespan is meant to be short, and if it is extended over too long of a time, the human soul, ill-equipped to handle the weight of centuries, begins to die. Very few humans have the fortitude to live as long as their demon mates.  
  
“You think you are the only woman to ever choose this path, but you are wrong. Your path has been made by the countless souls who came before you, all of whom suffered the same fate as you. A human-demon bonding almost always ends in tragedy for both partners.”  
  
I stare at her in shock. At no time during the long centuries of my marriage has any one of my in-laws ever told me about this.  
  
“You’re telling me that humans aren’t meant to live forever.”  
  
“No, they are not. We knew when Yukio chose a human mate that this is how it would likely end,” she answers matter-of-factly.  
  
“Why didn’t you warn him? Why didn’t you try to stop him?” I demand. If they knew, why did they allow us both to suffer so much?  
  
“We did. My brother would have none of it. He loved you, and deemed you worthy of being his mate. None of us could sway him from his choice. To be honest, knowing how he felt about you, even if he did know, it wouldn’t have changed his mind,” she tells me with a little shrug of her shoulders.  
  
These new revelations unsettle me, and I look away again. Down below the waves crash against the sand in a dance they have performed since the days the seas were born. I feel like a jellyfish caught on those waves, drifting helpless, and at the mercy of the tides.  
  
So my in-laws did try to talk Yukio out of marrying me, but the stubborn fool refused to listen. That is so like him. He’d made his choice and he deemed me worthy.   
  
I frown at a tern flying overhead with a fish in its beak. It’s still alive and thrashing but not for long. Life and death in an endless circle, repeating and turning on itself until the end of time. It is not unlike me and Yukio, trapped in our cycle of devotion and hate. Yukio will love me until my dying breath, and I am destined to hate him until the same.  
  
I realize that I was never worthy of him.  
_  
*****  
  
He was sick with it, reeling and wailing, but he had no time to process or recover because the scene shifted again, and he was alone on a beach as a hurricane bore down on the coast. It was October 1961, Hurricane Hattie was poised to Belize with all the force of her fury. He’d released the staff to seek shelter while he and Mariko set spells to protect the house. They were the same spells that his family had used to prevent the American bombs from flattening their houses and property in Japan during the war. If the magic shields were strong enough to withstand tons of airborne bombs, they would have no trouble facing a hurricane. At one point during their spellcasting, he’d noticed that Miaka was missing, and he had run in a panic down to the shoreline where he had found her alone, facing the storm’s wrath.  
  
*****  
  
_I choose a moment when both he and his sister are distracted with the preparations and slip away like a shadow as the sky darkens. I am clothed in a simple shift dress and a long, grey cloak with a cowled hood, and I quickly discover that they offer almost no protection from the growing ferocity of the wind.  
  
My husband is a fool. He thinks because I am old and frail that I have lost all of my power and cunning. He does not understand the overwhelming need someone feels as the end draws near, to complete their remaining tasks before it is too late. This need gives me strength and the resolve I require in order to do what I must.  
  
The path is difficult as I make my way down to the beach. I don’t know how much time I have before they realize that I am gone, but I am hoping that the wind and the rain will obscure my trail and make it harder for them to find me. It will not serve my purpose to be discovered too quickly, although I do hope to be found before the storm surge comes. It will do no good if I am swept out to sea.  
  
I’ve never faced a hurricane so unprotected before. I’ve watched so many of them from the safety of my husband’s shields. I have seen the destruction they wreak upon the land, but I have never felt the full force of their winds. There is something strangely exhilarating in waiting for the storm to come. I wonder if this is what the great adventurers feel when they are facing the highest mountain or the deepest chasm, knowing that the journey might kill them, but going forth in the face of fear. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more alive than in this moment. It is ironic that I have only come to understand what it means to live now when I am so close to death.  
  
In an even more ironic twist of fate, this monster has chosen to come on All Hallows Eve. Tomorrow will be All Saints Day in the Catholic Church, and the faithful would have been gathered in their mission churches praying to all the pagan gods that were canonized in order to foster the natives’ conversion. I think there will be no time to pray to these lost gods. By dawn most of the prayers will be entreaties for protection and salvation in the aftermath of Hattie’s wrath. And I have no doubts that there will be more souls to pray for on the coming Day of the Dead.  
  
I have no intention of being one of those souls. I do not know exactly when I will die, but I do know that it will not be today. Still I cannot help but question my judgment in the face of this terrible storm. I had thought to merely frighten my husband into agreeing to my demands, but as the wind picks up and the rain turns pelting I wonder if I’ve made the wrong choice.  
  
Even though I am afraid, I cannot convince myself to abandon my plan. There is too much at stake, and I doubt that I will ever have another chance like this. Plus I have acquired some of my husband’s stubbornness over the course of our marriage. I am sure that if any of the locals were to see me standing on this beach, they would think me completely insane. Perhaps they would even think I was the Lady of the Storm, calling the winds in. There is no one, however. The beach is deserted. Not even the gulls are stupid enough to fly on this day.  
  
The storm gets worse as I wait. The sky turns black, obliterating the last light of the sunset, and I am cloaked in darkness deeper than any darkness I have ever been in. I wonder if the deepest pits of Hell are as black as this. The rain falls so hard it stings like hail, striking at my face and hands. I am soaked; the wind tears at my clothes like thousands of sharp claws. It has been a long time; surely Yukio is missing me by now. Will he be able to find me in this darkness? Have I made a terrible mistake?  
  
I am not quite certain exactly how long it has been, but I know that it feels like hours. My wet clothes offer no protection from the hurricane, and my hands and feet are numb. Perhaps I should try to seek some small shelter behind the rocks or in the scrub trees. I did not know that this vigil would be so terrible.  
  
Before I can decide what I am going to do, however, a strong gust of wind knocks me to my knees and I am unable to rise again. I can hear the howling of the storm as it bears down on me, feel the crash of the sea as it is flung against the shore. The salt spray from the frothing waves splashes against my face along with the rain. I dig my hands into the wet sand, trying to gain purchase to keep myself from being bowled over by the wind, and hunker low, trying to make myself small to give the storm less to grab.  
  
Survival instinct is kicking in now. I can feel the pounding of my heart, the rush of adrenaline in my veins. My soul is shrieking in terror even as I am helpless against the onslaught of the hurricane. I scream into the blackness, the warmth of my tears being striped away by the icy fingers of the rain. Where is my husband?  
  
“Yukio! Yukio, where are you? I am here! Why have you not found me?” I cry.  
  
The thunder shakes the earth, and for one brief moment, the lightning sets the sky on fire, brighter than the day. I cower, trying to shield my face from the pounding rain as the wind whips over me. I have lost all hope. It appears I have miscalculated, and I will pay dearly for my folly. I can feel the storm surge coming. It won’t be long now…  
  
Then the relentless gale ebbs and the cold wind turns warm. I look up as the darkness parts and there is my husband, blocking the storm. He stands between me and Hattie’s fury, shielding me from the brunt of the hurricane with his own body. He is glowing; a swirling, writhing corona of gold that envelops him and flares like the surface of the sun. His eyes are alight with the same fire and he looks down at me, his gaze intense and anxious.  
  
He has found me, but I am filled with such loathing at the sight of him that I can hardly breathe. I hate him. I hate what he has done to me. I hate what he has reduced me to. I hate him. I hate him.   
  
Kami-sama, he is so beautiful…  
  
“Miaka!” he calls, his voice rising above the howling of the wind.  
  
“Yukio!” I answer, trying to sit up.   
  
He falls to his knees beside me, this great demon lord brought down to my level. His hands grab my shoulders and pull me to him.  
  
“Miaka! What are you doing?”  
  
“Let me go,” I demand, struggling in his grasp.  
  
“No! We have to get back inside! The storm is coming. It will only get worse from here!”  
  
“I won’t go! I won’t go anywhere with you!” I spit, clawing futilely at his hand on my wrist.   
  
“Miaka please! Don’t do this! We’re out of time!” he pleads, but I know he won’t fight me or do anything that he thinks might hurt me. He sees me as far too fragile for such things, and I can use that against him.  
  
“I won’t go! I won’t go until you promise me!”  
  
He casts a glance behind him towards the blackness and the approaching hurricane.  
  
“What do you want?” he asks of me, his voice cracking with worry and anguish. “What has forced you to come out into this storm? Why did you need my attention so badly that you felt that you had to do this to yourself? Kami-sama, you are soaked to the skin and freezing. Be glad Mariko is a healer, else you would certainly have caught your death out here this night!”  
  
“Does it matter? I am dying anyway! What difference does it make if I perish from exposure or from a failing heart? Either way I am still just as dead!” I counter furiously.  
  
He tries to pick me up, but I pummel him with my fists, striking him with all the fury I have in me.  
  
“Miaka, please! We must go back to the house! This beast will make landfall soon!”  
  
He is desperate and close to breaking. I think I have already broken, but now is my chance. I can take advantage of his weakness. When he is like this, he will give me anything that I want. If I don’t seize the opportunity now, I may not have another.  
  
“Take me back, Yukio. I want to go home. Take me back to Japan. I won’t go with you now if you do not promise. You’ll have to drag me back, screaming. Do you want that?” I tell him, grabbing the collar of his shirt.  
  
“Miaka!”  
  
“No! You must promise me. I don’t want to die in this stinking place full of bugs and Catholics. I want to die in the land of my fathers. I want my ashes to lie with the remains of my family. You have taken so much from me. Give me this!”  
  
“Miaka, you ask so much…” he begins but I cut him off.  
  
“Promise me!”  
  
The gale increases, the wind gusting. My husband’s back bends from the force of it, his hair blowing wildly all around his face. Our eyes meet in a battle of wills. I grit my teeth and refuse to yield. I know the moment that he relents because something in his eyes dies and his shoulders slump.  
  
“If I promise, you’ll come with me now?” he asks defeatedly.  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Then I promise that I will take you back to Japan.”  
  
I bare my teeth and glare at him. “Not good enough! Promise that you will take me back to Japan before the turning of the year!”  
  
“Miaka…”  
  
“Promise me! Say it!” I demand, twisting my fists into his shirt. I know I can’t hurt him, but I can at least pretend that I can choke him.  
  
“I promise. I promise that you will be back in Japan before the turning of the year.”  
  
I am so relieved that I begin to cry. I don’t know if he can see my tears over the pounding of the rain, but I can feel them, hot on my face.  
  
“Thank you. Thank you, Yukio,” I say, relaxing my hold and slumping against him.  
  
I have bound him, and we both know it. Now that he has given me his word, he is honor-bound to keep it, and I know he will never break a promise that he has made to me. He cradles me close to his body as he picks me up and begins to carry me back to the house. The energy around us creates a pocket of dry warmth and I am completely protected in his arms. I know I should feel triumphant and powerful, but I do not.  
  
After all, it is an empty victory._  
  
******  
  
Yukio gasped. He remembered that horrible day too well, but he had kept his promise. He’d built a new house, away from the coast, but full of gardens. Shippou and his mate had moved in with them, along with their three kits. Miaka had spent her last year there, her body further weakening and withering away. Then she had fallen and broken her hip during the winter. Mariko had healed it, but she had said that Miaka’s bones were too brittle, and it was too dangerous for her to walk any longer. She’d spent her last months in a wheelchair. She would die in April of 1962.  
  
One last time his world swirled, and he was inside his mate’s mind again, on a bittersweet Spring afternoon that he remembered all too well.  
  
******  
  
_There are no views of the sea this time. The house my husband has brought me to does not border the coast. In the place of the waves, I now have gardens; magnificent Japanese gardens with curved pathways, ponds full of colorful koi, sakura trees, bamboo and even a thousand-year-old sacred cedar. The ancient Sugi stands tall and vigilant at the other end of the garden, its towering trunk dwarfing the trees nearby.  
  
Winter has loosened her icy grasp and spring has returned to Japan. The weather is warm enough for me to sit outside in the garden to enjoy the sunshine. My attendant has wrapped me in a warm caftan and placed me in my less-than-comfortable wheelchair so that I might witness the splendor of the cherry blossoms firsthand. The sakuras bloom only a few short days a year in a riot of perfect flowers. The smell is heavenly, and I can stare at the pink blooms for hours. All too soon, the petals will fall, carpeting the garden with their pale softness before blowing away in the wind.  
  
I can feel my life fading like the sakura blossoms, but I am content. My husband has kept his promise to bring me home so I can die in peace in the land of my birth. There is great comfort in that.  
  
Children’s laughter breaks me from my solitary thoughts, and I turn my head to see two demon fox kits running along the finely tended paths in a merry game of tag. They are the young twins of a kitsune family, long-time allies to my husband and my in-laws, who have moved in with us for the time being. The adult male, his vixen and their three kits now occupy one of the wings in the large house.   
  
I think their presence is a mechanism of my husband’s parents. Yukio practically grew up with Shippou and my guess is that they are here to temper my husband’s grief. He, his mate Mitsiyomi, and their three kits provide much needed joy and levity to our somber house. The twins Sakame and Shioni are two red-tailed, red-haired, green-eyed imps that light up the garden with their giggles and antics.   
  
Like most foxes, they are playful and mischievous. Yesterday, they trapped one of the maids in a sticky web trap and hung her upside down from the cinnamon tree. I think I laughed for the first time in weeks at the sight of poor Masumi bound up in white goo. They got the gardener, too.  
  
“Bachan! Bachan!” they cry, seeing me outside in my chair.  
  
‘Grandmother’ they call me and I am besieged by two rowdy kits, both vying for my attention.   
  
“Bachan, did you see me do that trick?” the little male, Shioni asks me, his eyes flashing.  
  
“Bachan, I got a hundred on my quiz at school today!” the little female, Sakame interrupts.  
  
Yes, even demon children must go to school. Education is the key to their survival in a human world, that and concealment.   
  
I indulge them because their joy lightens my mood.   
  
“Yes, Shioni, I saw you. That’s wonderful news Sakame. I’m sure your mother will be very proud,” I say fondly.  
  
“And she will be unhappy to know that you are harrowing Obaasan,” a new voice scolds.  
  
It is the kitsune pair’s oldest offspring, Kohi. He is the equivalent of a teenager in their years and he is different from his siblings, much more serious and quiet. I’ve heard whispers that he is special in some way, and I know that his hair and tail are streaked with faint lines of silver and his eyes are flecked with gold.  
  
“Awww, nii-chan! We weren’t harrowing her!” Shioni complains, pouting.  
  
“No, but you were working up to it. I know you, otouto. Now go. I know both of you have homework, and Kaasan will be angry if you don’t get it done by bedtime.”  
  
The twins frown and lower their black-tipped fox ears, but they know better than to disobey their older sibling.  
  
“Oh all right, nii-chan,” they relent, their tails dragging as they trudge away.  
  
I smile after them.  
  
“There was no need to do that. They weren’t bothering me,” I assure him.  
  
Kohi sits on the bench next to me and takes my hand. His hands are delicate and almost feminine. There is a great deal about the kitsune species that is effeminate, with males being almost as lovely as their vixens. This one is a remarkable beauty.  
  
“Perhaps I simply wanted you to myself, Obaasan,” he replies, a teasing smile on his lips.  
  
He calls me ‘honored grandmother’ unlike his younger siblings who use the more familiar term, but he is formal and reserved; a perfect son. Sometimes I wonder what really lies behind those deep green eyes of his.  
  
“Well, you have me. It isn’t like they will allow me to get up and walk away,” I say, managing to keep most of the bitterness out of my voice.   
  
He frowns and turns his head towards the sakura trees. Some of the blooms have already started to fall.  
  
“Shall I make the sakura trees bloom again, Obaasan?” he questions absently, and I am reminded that one of his Talents is plant manipulation.   
  
“No, Kohi, but thank you for offering,” I answer.  
  
He says nothing and we both look at the blossoms swaying in the breeze.  
  
Sitting there watching the delicate flowers, I am struck by a moment of clarity. Humans are like the sakura blossoms, beautiful but short-lived. Demons are the Sugi, living eons as they grow tall and strong. One erupts in a brilliant flash of color that dazzles and entrances all who look upon it, while the other is more subdued but steadfast.  
  
I am the cherry blossom. Yukio is the cedar tree. We were never meant to marry. The time of my brief blooming has come to an end while he will go on, enduring many more centuries before he reaches his final height.  
  
I have done him a great disservice with so many years of hate.  
  
My breath comes short and my fingers begin to tingle as I feel my soul fluttering against the confines of my chest. It doesn’t hurt, but the sensation is strange. I look at Kohi and his face his impossibly sad. He knew. That was why he sent the younger kits away. He was protecting them.  
  
“Kohi …” I whisper.  
  
“It’s alright, Obaasan,” he comforts, then his eyes lift to something just out of my view and he releases my hand.  
  
I hear footsteps approaching quickly. From the cadence of the gait, I can tell that it is my husband and his sister who are rushing to my side. Did they feel the change in me? Or can the perfume of the blossoms only mask the scent of death for so long?   
  
“Miaka!” my husband cries, gripping the armrest of my wheelchair.  
  
Kohi stands and formally bows, but Yukio ignores him as he grabs my hands.   
  
“Beloved, your hands are like ice! Mariko, do something!” he begs his sister.  
  
She has the same sad expression on her face as the kitsune, but she tries to humor her brother.  
  
“Let’s get her inside. Perhaps it was too cold out here after all.”  
  
Yukio lifts me into his arms and carries me into the house, running me up to my bedroom and swathing me in a pile of blankets on my futon. It is a useless effort, but I understand his need to do this. It’s been coming for so long, but I don’t think he is really prepared.  
  
As for myself, I think I am finally ready. My body is weightless, and I feel like I am drifting. It’s warm and soothing like a hot spring. Yukio looks down at me, his eyes wide with horror and disbelief.   
  
“Miaka, hold on! Mariko!”  
  
My sister-in-law stands at the foot of the futon with her arms limply at her sides. She knows as well as I do that anything she does will only prolong the inevitable. Yukio shakes his head and snarls at her.  
  
“Mariko!”  
  
“There is nothing I can do, my brother,” she tells him softly.   
  
“No! **No!** ”  
  
Even now he fights for me, fights for my life, such as it has become, and I come to understand that have I hated him for all the wrong reasons. I hated him for being what he was, hated him for the things he could not change. I hated him for the weakness in myself which was not his fault. His only sin was in loving me too much.  
  
I realize now that I have always loved him. I have always loved this magnificent creature who has devoted himself to me so completely for the past two centuries. But I have wronged him by tying him to me. In doing so I have bound him to this pain.   
  
I was never worthy of him. I didn’t have the fortitude to live forever. I didn’t love him enough to let him be my universe. But I loved him the only way I knew how. Now I must love him enough to face this final moment and give him what he will not take for himself.  
  
As long as I live, he will not move on. He will remain faithful to me and refuse to find someone deserving of him. I pray that he will find her someday; a mate truly befitting of his beauty and generous heart. He deserves that after all I have put him through.   
  
I see him sink his fangs into his wrist, tearing his flesh so the blood flows freely. He thrusts his arm towards me, the fingers of his hand open in entreaty.  
  
“Miaka! Take it please! It will restore you!” he begs desperately.  
  
I shake my head. He doesn’t want to let me go, so I will have to do it for him. It is the last gift I can give to make up for all the wrongs I have done.  
  
“Ai shiteru, my beloved,” I whisper.  
  
His lips tremble as he weeps openly and drops his arm in defeat, his blood dripping on the pale blankets.   
  
“Ai shiteru,” he vows, his eyes resigned.  
  
I smile at him, a true smile for the first time in decades, then I breathe deep…  
  
And set him free.  
  
_*****  
  
The memory ripped through him: Miaka’s last moments, his blood on the blankets, Mariko’s sad expression. He screamed and tore at his hair as wave after wave of agony drowned him in grief and pain. Why? Why had he been forced to relive one of the worst days of his long life, and from within his dead mate’s memories no less? What cruel trick was this that had ripped open his wounds and poured acid into them? What had the Navajo girl given him that had done this?  
  
He bent over and vomited on the hard ground, bringing up nothing but stomach acid and bile that burned his throat. He was still gasping, the pain still searing and fresh, when he felt that he was no longer alone. Lifting his eyes from where he knelt on a dark floor in a dark, shapeless room, he saw the glow first before focusing on the figure standing before him.  
  
She was young again, whole and beautiful, and smiling in a way he had not seen in decades.   
  
“Miaka,” he choked.  
  
“Hello, my husband,” she said with a fondness that had been absent the last years of their marriage.  
  
“Did you do this? Why? Why did you do this?” he begged.  
  
She reached down and stroked his hair, her fingers tracing the contour of his cheek. Her hand was warm and solid.  
  
“Because you needed to see. You needed to understand.”  
  
“Understand what? That you hated me for what I did to you?”  
  
“No. You needed to understand that I loved you.”  
  
“Loved me?”  
  
“I did. I did love you, but I didn’t have it in me to live forever… or even a few centuries. I knew my death would set you free, but you held on to me. It’s time for you to let me go, my Beloved. You’ve grieved for me long enough.”  
  
“Miaka, I…”  
  
She brushed her fingertips over his lips, quieting him. “You know you have. You were always my faithful one. Even when I did nothing to earn your devotion, you gave it to me anyway. The size of your heart is your greatest gift.”  
  
He choked on another sob and squeezed his eyes shut, hoping he could block her out or at least force himself to wake from the nightmare.   
  
“Yukio, look at me. Look at me, husband.”  
  
Her soft command could not be ignored, and he opened his eyes again.  
  
“I am dead, my Beloved. I am beyond pain or grief or sorrow. I am content where I am. I am loved. I am happy. Now it is your turn to be happy again.”  
  
“I don’t know if I know how,” he admitted, the tears still rolling down his face.   
  
“You do. You will. You’re strong. I have faith in you. You’ll find your way.”  
  
“I don’t want to forget you.”  
  
She gave him a sad smile. “You couldn’t even if you tried. Our lives were linked for over two hundred years. We will always be part of each other. But now it’s time for you to move on, make a new life, allow yourself a new love.”  
  
“Allow myself to be with Emma, you mean,” he said with a hint of bitterness.  
  
“I can’t answer that for you. I have no knowledge of what’s to come or what you should do. I only know that you cannot create a new future as long as you cling to your past. Let me go, Yukio. Let us both be at peace.”  
  
He grimaced. “I loved you so much.”  
  
“You did. And I loved you, and hated you for it. But it’s time for you to move on. I died. You lived. Now live. Cast off your mourning and honor my memory by being happy. You deserve it, my Beloved.”  
  
He was thinking of a response, but she turned her head away, gazing behind her at something only she could see or hear.   
  
“Dawn is coming,” she said. “I must go.”  
  
Panic seized him, and he tried to stand, but his legs wouldn’t obey him. “Miaka…”  
  
“You won’t see me again. Remember what I said. Live, Yukio. Be happy.”  
  
The glow around her was dimming, the darkness surrounding her closing in.  
  
“Ai shiteru, my beloved,” she said as her form began to fade.  
  
“Ai shiteru,” he whispered back.  
  
She gave him one last smile and slowly disappeared, leaving him alone in the dark, barren place. A moment later, he became aware of a rhythmic sound breaking the silence, and he realized that he was waking up. Eager to cast off the dream world, he forced himself to open his eyes and return to reality. The first faint rays of the sun were just beginning to lighten the sky, and Ruth and Sara exited the hogan to perform the Dawn Way. Temeh roused to join them, and both he and his father stood as well, but not to join in the ceremony. He knew from the look on Inuyasha’s face that they were both hearing the same thing, and they set their eyes on the horizon as the whirr of an engine announced the coming of a helicopter from the south.  
  
  
TBC (soon, I hope…)


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suppose I should say something about this. I could say that life has been sh*t and that's why it's taken me years to get this chapter out. I could say lots of things. But the bottom line is- I wasn't writing anything, nor have I been for over a year. This is the first piece of creative writing I've done since 2015. 
> 
> This story is almost complete. I should write the epilogue while I'm still feeling able to write. I hope to get it done, but no promises. Enjoy.

The Coyote Child

            By Terri Botta

 

Disclaimer: I don’t own Inuyasha. Sole copyright belongs to Viz and Rumiko Takashi. I’m poor so don’t sue.

Rating: R for later chapters.

Pairing: Inuyasha/Kagome, OFM/OFC

Summary: Inuyasha and Kagome are asked to adopt a coyote-hanyou baby from Arizona.

Email feedback to: isilwath@comcast.net

Webpage: <http://www.tisilwath.com/Wordsmiths/>

 

Navajo Words used in this chapter:

 

_Ahé hee’ – Thank you_

_Hózhó Nahasdlii – Walk in beauty_

Hágoónee - Goodbye

*******

 

Chapter 17

 

            Yukio had known that his and his father’s hearing was excellent, but he hadn’t realized how sensitive it was until he was out in the desert with little or no noise pollution to muffle his senses. He knew he heard the chopper, but it was several minutes before he was able to lay eyes on it, and by the time it was fully in view, the sun had risen completely. It was a smaller chopper, obviously privately owned, the kind corporate bigwigs and millionaires favored.

            He and his father took up defensive positions while Temeh ushered David, Ruth and Sara back into the hogan, then guarded the door, his face tense but not wary.

            “Uncle get a new chopper?” Yukio asked Inuyasha, although the chopper did not seem as large or luxurious as the ones that were usually in Sesshoumaru’s fleet

            “Hell if I know,” his father replied, then looked to the coyote-youkai. “Oi! You know who that belongs to?”

            Temeh frowned and nodded. “I think so. It looks like one of my cousin’s helicopters.”

            “Your cousin has helicopters?”

            The young father shrugged as if that answered everything.

            They waited for the chopper to land about fifty yards away from the hogan, and Yukio saw his father put a hand down to easily grab Tessaiga if needed. He hoped it wouldn’t be necessary. If the chopper truly belonged to Temeh’s family, then it was best if the occupants were friendly.

            The pilot turned off the engine, and the blades were still coming to a stop when the side door on the chopper slid back to let out two figures, a male and a female. Yukio looked at Temeh to gauge his reaction to whoever was exiting, and saw him relax and tense up again. The young coyote-youkai’s demeanor changed from defiant to contrite to resigned, then defiant again all in the space of a few seconds. It told him that the newcomers weren’t a threat, but that Temeh wasn’t all that happy to see them.

            “Let me guess, your parents?” he offered, noting the uncomfortable scrunch to the young father’s nose.

            “Yeah,” Temeh confirmed as Kohteh and Kohmeh lowered their heads and tucked their tails in submission at the approaching pair.

            “Well, at least you don’t have to call them.”

            Temeh snorted, but cast him a small smile. “True.”

            They watched, not moving or letting down their guard, as the couple walked closer while the pilot stayed with the chopper. Yukio could see the confusion and wariness on their faces at the picture of defense presented to them, but they seemed undeterred. He saw the male frown and lift a lip to reveal his fangs, and that was enough for his father to draw Tessaiga and step directly into their path.

            “I am Inuyasha, brother to Sesshoumaru, Lord of the West, this home and all within it are under my protection,” his father announced, more formally than Yukio was used to hearing him speak.

            The couple paused several feet away. They were dressed well, Yukio observed. The male was in an expensive, dark grey suit that was obviously tailored to fit him. Instead of a tie, the mandarin collared shirt had a jeweled cabochon, and he wore matching cufflinks. The female was in a deep blue, couture dress, Donna Karan, if he knew his designers, (Eri would skin him alive if he couldn’t tell a Karan from a Givenchy,) and a long overcoat that looked like an Armani. She was wearing a small fortune in jewelry, if her earrings and the number of rings on her fingers said anything.

            Yukio watched the two males size each other up, noting that the female stood slightly behind her mate, her face stony until she looked at her son. There was a flicker of relief, and then disappointment in her eyes.

            “I am Tamahoh. This is my mate, Azuna. We have come for our son. He is here without permission, and we are here to retrieve him. We have no quarrel with you or the Lord of the West,” the male spoke in a formal tone.

            Knowing his father had no gift or patience for diplomacy, Yukio stepped forward to join him.

            “And we have none with you, but Temeh has requested our protection, and it has been granted. I think you will understand once you know the reason why,” Yukio replied.

            Any further conversation was cut off by the cry of an infant. Both Temeh’s parents startled and stared wide-eyed as the door of the hogan opened and the occupants came out. Kagome lead the way, her posture wary and defensive. She was followed by Sara carrying Peter, and Ruth. David and Emma exited last, making their way to the side.

            Azuna’s eyes fell on the baby, and she gasped. “Nene, what have you done?”

            Yukio saw Temeh grimace at being called ‘Baby Boy,’ but he motioned for Sara to step up beside him.

            “Padre. Madre. This is Sara, my mate, and our son, Peter,” the young father stated.

            Tamahoh’s shock faded and anger took it place. “Your **_son?_** You are barely out of childhood yourself! How can you have a son?”

            Yukio almost wished his mother would go into a long explanation of the mechanics of mammalian procreation just for the entertainment value, but she didn’t. Instead she joined his father in partially blocking the newcomers’ access to Sara and the baby.

            “Sara and I met last year,” Temeh explained calmly. “I knew the moment I saw her that she was the one for me. I courted her, took her as my mate and made our son with her.”

            “You told us nothing of this,” Tamahoh accused.

            “I knew you would not approve. I planned to keep Sara a secret until the baby was born, but then you moved us to California and Sealed me in my room.”

            “You caused a mass panic in Tucson! Over a stupid **_toy!_** ” the coyote-youkai yelled with paternal disapproval.

            “Yes. I did. It was stupid and childish, and I regret it. What I regret most of all is that my punishment separated me from my mate in the last two months of her pregnancy, leaving her to have him without me there. Her father tried to kill him the night he was born, and then her own brother took him away from her and tried to give him up for adoption.”

            At the news of his grandchild being at risk, Tamahoh’s eyes flashed red and his teeth and claws extended in protective rage. Inuyasha brandished Tessiaga to get the other male’s attention and diffuse the situation.

            “Oi! Put a sock in it!”

            Tamahoh snarled. “You tell me my grandson was almost killed, and you expect me to **_put a sock in it?_** ”

            “The threat has been dealt with, in more ways than one. Peter is no longer in danger,” Yukio assured them.

            Azuna had been slowly inching her way closer to the new mother and pup. She’d crossed over to the other side of her mate to be nearer to the side Sara was on, and was obviously straining to get a better look at the infant. Sara noticed and was shuffling her way towards her mate’s mother. The two finally gave up the pretense and closed the distance before anyone could stop them.

            “Azuna, what are you doing!” Tamahoh scolded.

            “Seeing my grandchild. Why don’t you put a sock in it?”

            Yukio swallowed a laugh, because it was obviously where Temeh had inherited his rebellious streak.

            “May I see him?” Azuna asked.

            “Of course,” Sara replied, turning Peter so the woman could get a good look at him.

            “Ohhh, precious bebé. He has his father’s eyes,” the new grandmother cooed.

            Not that Temeh’s parents couldn’t be trusted, but Yukio moved to block access to the chopper… just in case they couldn’t be trusted. He cast a side-eye at the pilot who was still with the chopper, although he was now sitting on a folding chair placed in the shade of the helicopter.

            “Chiquito, why did you not say anything to us?” Azuna asked her son.

            “I was afraid of what Papa would say, Mama. You know how he feels about us mating with humans after what happened to Tío.”

            “Oh, Nene, you know I wouldn’t have let anything happen to them.”

            “But Mama, you know what he said after…”

            Azuna nodded sadly. “I know, but words spoken in grief are often untrue. Tío’s son had been murdered, and Tío himself had almost died. It was a very dark time, Nene. Your father… he didn’t want you or your siblings suffering such pain.”

            “Would you like to hold him?” Sara asked.

            The youkai woman’s eyes misted over, and she nodded. “Yes, please.”

            The young mother smiled and gently placed Peter in his paternal grandmother’s arms. The baby burbled and looked at the new person, letting out a soft bark. Azuna responded with a croon of her own, telling the infant that he was safe. Temeh followed it up with a reassuring bark, and the baby reached a questioning hand up to touch Azuna’s face.

            “What is this?” Azuna asked, referring to the turquoise and silver beaded necklace around Peter’s neck.

            “That is his concealment spell locus,” Kagome explained. “I blessed it yesterday.”

            The youkai woman looked up, assessing the miko. “You are Kagome, mate of Inuyasha. You are a youkai doctor.”

            His mother nodded. “Yes. Sara’s brother and two representatives from the Navajo Nation brought Peter to us in Alberta.”

            “Alberta? They flew with my grandson so very young?” Azuna questioned, concerned.

            Yukio shook his head. “No. They drove him up to us.”

            Azunea hissed softly through her teeth. “Such a long trip for such a young pup.”

            Kagome hurried to assure her. “They did their best and kept him safe. I gave him a complete exam when he was brought to me. He is healthy and growing well.”

            Azuna smiled in gratitude. “And then you brought him home.”

            “We could not accept him into our family without his mother’s permission. When we found out he had been taken from her against her will, we knew we had to return him and offer her sanctuary with us,” Yukio explained.

            “There are things you do not know,” Temeh’s father said abruptly.

            Yukio lifted his head, surprised at how close the male Coyote-youkai had come, and now they were all clustered around Sara, Azuna and Peter. He heard his father snort.

            “The bats? Killed them,” Inuyasha scoffed.

            Azuna gasped. “You killed the Terror Bats?”

            Inuyasha shrugged. “They attacked the hogan and the people in it. No way we’d let them live.”

            “And we informed my Uncle,” Yukio added. “I am sure he will find out who is behind them.”

            “It was Counsel Deveran. We are sure of it,” Tamahoh informed.

            “That is what we told Lord Sesshoumaru’s agent when she arrived to investigate. Since we no longer feel the barrier keeping the bats here, we can only assume my Uncle dealt with it,” Yukio said.

            The Coyote-youkai’s shoulders relaxed in relief. “That is… good news.”

            “See Papa, everything is alright. The bats are gone and Sara is safe.”

            “You still did all of this without our knowledge, and you broke your Seal to run here,” Tamahoh replied harshly.

            Temeh’s face hardened. “I had no choice. Sara needed me. I thought they were in danger.”

            “It would have been better had you told us the truth in the first place,” Azuna scolded.

            “And listen to another lecture about how I am not ready to take a mate because I’m too young and don’t understand?”

            “You **_are_** too young! And you **_don’t_** understand! Look what your irresponsibility has done!” Tamahoh argued.

            “Peace, peace,” Azuna interrupted. “These are old arguments that have no answer and often draw more blood than is wanted. All children have disagreements with their parents about their futures.”

            Yukio snorted and cast a wry glance towards his mother who gave him a tiny, understanding smile.

            “We should let them talk it out and decide what is next,” Yukio said, stepping back from the group.

            He was relatively certain that the danger had passed, and there was no risk in allowing the new family unit to work out their differences without the interference of strangers. He, Emma and David moved furthest away, going over to where the Jeep was parked. His mother eventually managed to convince Inuyasha to stop hovering and allow the others to talk amongst themselves, but he noticed that they stayed close. He had no doubt that there were rocky, tense times ahead, and a lot of big decisions, but at least everyone was safe and healthy.

            “What do you think will happen now?” Emma asked him.

            He looked quickly over at Sara and Ruth standing amidst the Coyote-Youkais. Everyone seemed uncertain, but no one looked distressed or afraid.

            “I’m sure there’ll be some yelling, and some tears, and some uncomfortable talks, but in the end, Temeh’s parents love their son, and they will want to be part of Peter’s life. They’ll work it out.”

            “You think so?” David questioned, not looking convinced.

            Yukio shrugged. “I’m not saying it’ll be easy, but I think they’ll get there.”

            “So now that Temeh’s parents are here and the demon bats are gone, what happens next?” Emma asked.

            Yukio sighed. “I guess we go home. Sara and the pup are safe. The pup’s father has them under his protection, and the Navajo Reservation is no longer infested with Terror Bats. There’s no need for us to stay any longer, and we have businesses and family at home. You have classes and David needs to get back to school, too.”

            “How will we get back?”

            Yukio looked at the Jeep. “My father wants to leave Sara and Temeh the Jeep. If he does that, we’d need to get a ride to Flagstaff  to get a flight home.”

            The more he thought about it, the more likely he felt that Inuyasha would leave the Jeep to the young couple. It wasn’t like they couldn’t afford to replace it. Unless Temeh’s parents were willing to donate a reliable vehicle that could handle the rough desert roads. He doubted that anyone could convince Ruth to leave her hogan, especially now that there was a steady source of water.

            “When do you think we’ll leave?” Emma asked.

            He took another quick glance towards the hogan. Things still seemed to be going well.

            “Today probably. Tomorrow at the latest would be my guess.”

            Emma nodded and let out a long sigh. “I’m glad. This trip… it’s been…”

            “Long? Dangerous? Frustrating with a side of probable death?” he offered, trying to lighten the mood.

            She gave him a small smile that told him she saw right though him. “Enlightening,” she corrected.

            He looked away from her too knowing eyes. “That, too. I’ll be glad to be home. I miss Ian, and my work. I have clients who are counting on me, and my mom has patients that need her.”

            “Yes. I miss home too.”

            He fell silent for a moment, feeling a slight tingle rushing under his skin. Emma moved a little closer to him, and he had to fight the urge to move away. He was still at war with himself over what he wanted, and his own healing wounds, but he forced himself to stay still and calm as she came into his personal space.

            “But I think…” she began softly, “that it would be nice to see you again sometime.”

            He mulled over the words a bit, then nodded, his eyes still looking towards Sara, Peter and their family. “You mentioned a place with live music?”

            “The Sugar Bowl in Edmonton on Friday and Sunday nights.”

            Her tone was guardedly hopeful, and Yukio remembered the words Miaka had spoken to him in his… dream? Vision? He wasn’t sure, and he hadn’t had time to process what he had witnessed. Time for reflection and examination of the vision Manifesting would come later, when he was safely home and away from distractions. Perhaps he would even talk to Mariko about it. But for now, he tried to take Miaka’s words to heart and allow himself at least the opportunity to be happy.

            “Typically my father is in the Edmonton office on Wednesdays and Thursdays, so I have to pick up Ian from school, but I can check my calendar once we’re back home, see if I have any days when I could make the drive up.”

            He heard her let out a soft gasp and could almost hear the smile in her voice.

            “That would be good.”

            “And don’t forget, my mother offered to help you with your new skills. Manifesting new abilities like yours can be pretty unsettling. I meant it when I said some people go crazy. It really would help to have someone train you.”

            “Yes, this new way of seeing is… It will take some getting used to,” she agreed.

            Something in him settled and he relaxed.

            “So if I accept help from your mother and let her train me, does that mean we’ll be seeing each other often?”

            “It’s possible. It depends on my schedule, but I am sure there will be days when I am around.”

            “I… I think I would like that.”

            “Me too,” he admitted and smiled when he realized that he truly meant it.

            “We should trade numbers so we can keep in touch, and I can call you when there is a good performer scheduled at The Sugar Bowl.”

            He nodded, reaching for his cell phone.

            “I’d call you, but… no signal,” Emma reminded as she recited her number.

            He gave a small grunt of acknowledgement and created a new contact for her. “I told Otou-san that we needed satellite phones, but he kept arguing with me. If we’d had working phones out here, we could have called Uncle ourselves to ask for help.”

            Emma snickered as she added him to her contacts list in turn. “Thanks. Once we get home, I can look at the Sugar Bowl’s schedule and let you know if I think anyone particularly talented will be playing.”

            “That’d be good. I liked the singer we saw in Helena.”

            “Me too.”

            She looked at him, and he was trying to think of something to say, when he heard the sound of an approaching truck. His parents and the coyote-youkais also heard the noise, and all conversation stopped as they turned to face the coming vehicle. After a few moments more, his brain supplied him with a sound memory, and he recognized the engine noise.

            “Who is it?” Emma asked him.

            “It sounds like Michael’s Jeep. He must have spent the night at Ben’s.”

            “Hm. This could be interesting depending on how he feels about his sister’s in-laws.”

            A few moments later, the older vehicle came into view, and they watched as Michael parked and got out. Confusion was evident on the young man’s face, but before Yukio could approach him to explain, Ruth broke off from the group by the hogan. He heard the woman address her grandson, then saw her guide him over to where his sister was standing with Temeh and his parents.

            Yukio didn’t envy Michael’s position. It was awkward enough to meet your younger sister’s soon to be in-laws under the best of circumstances, let alone a situation like this. Michael’s shoulders were tense, but he could see that Sara and Ruth were doing their best to ease the introductions and explain what was happening.

            “That looks like it’s going well…” Yukio heard Emma comment.

            Yukio nodded. “No screaming or threats of bloodshed at least.”

            Emma made a sound of agreement and shifted closer.

            “If Michael’s back, that means others will be arriving soon for water.”

            Her words reminded him of his mother’s promise to assist with water hauling that morning. “That’s true.”

            He focused his hearing on trying to determine if more people were on the way. So far, he couldn’t hear any approaching vehicles, but that didn’t mean anything. Many Navajo were early risers, and they would come for the water they needed for the day.

            “We can get things ready for the water hauling while they keep talking. I don’t think they are anywhere near finished,” he offered.

            Emma nodded. “That’s a good idea. David? Are you feeling well enough to help haul water?”

            David put a hand to his head, but nodded. “Yes. My headache is gone, and I’m not dizzy anymore.”  
            “Great. We should start getting things set up. People will be arriving soon.”

            They headed towards the well, and were soon joined by his father.

            “Oi. What are you doing?” Inuyasha demanded.

            “The other tribe members will be coming for water. We’re getting ready for them since it doesn’t look like Sara and Ruth will be done talking with Temeh and his parents anytime soon,” he explained.

            Inuyasha huffed, but came with them. David retrieved buckets from the side of the hogan and brought them over. The pump would need to be primed so it would be ready to dispense water once people started to arrive. They got the water flowing, then filled a 50-gallon barrel for Sara and Ruth.

            “So this is the new well my son dug for the People,” Tamahoh said as he approached them.

            “Yes,” Yukio confirmed. A quick look revealed that Azuna was still by the hogan with Sara and Ruth although Peter was back in Sara’s arms.

            The Coyote-youkai snorted. “It was not his place to forge a new pact with the People.”

            Yukio gritted his teeth. “You going to destroy the well, then? Deny the pact and take away the water?”

            Tamahoh glanced at him and his father, obviously weighing his next words carefully. “No. If this is truly to be a new beginning for our kind and the People, we must operate in good faith. Temeh dug the well. The well will stay.”

            “Good of you,” Inuyasha dead-panned, but it was obvious that he was ready to fight to protect the well had the answer been different.

            The Coyote-youkai stepped back, hands in a neutral position. “I am not against this pact. I only fear for my son and grandson. Humans are… unpredictable and often irrational.”

            “Keh. Tell me something I don’t know,” Inuyasha huffed.

            “That’s true, but you have to start somewhere,” Emma said. “This well will mean fresh, clean water. It’s a precious gift. It will go a long way towards fostering good will.”

            Tamahoh nodded, his face serious. “True.”

            “Have you decided what you are going to do?” Yukio asked.

            “It is our wish that Temeh and his mate come to California with us, but she will not leave her grandmother and the old woman will not leave this…” His face crinkled with distaste as he looked at the hogan. “House…”

            “Sounds like you still have a few things to work out,” Yukio commented.

            “Feh. Do not go against old women. Trust me. Babaas are scary,” Inuyasha said with a shudder.

            Yukio chucked, remembering Kaede with fondness. The old miko was a guiding hand and a dear friend, but she had been a force to be reckoned with.

            Tamahoh nodded, his face serious. “Of this I am well aware.”        

            The sound of approaching trucks reached the edge of his range.

            “They’re coming,” Yukio said, for the benefit of the others who did not have enhanced hearing.

            “There’s gonna be a bunch of people arriving very soon,” Inuyasha said to Tamahoh.  “You need to decide what you are going to do when they get here. Doesn’t matter who they are, humans gossip.”

            Yukio shook his head slightly. “Youkai, too.”

            His father canted his head in agreement.

            Tamahoh looked back to where his mate was standing with Temeh and the others. Michael was now holding Peter and looking uncomfortable, but calm.

            “Azuna and I wish to leave. There are things that must be done if the Bats are truly gone.”

            “They’re gone,” Inuyasha insisted.

            “I do not doubt it, but if that is so, we may return to our home in Tucson.”

            “That would put you much closer to your grandson.”

            “Yes. Temeh has already stated that he will not leave his mate. I want my grandson protected, but my son has responsibilities, and resources here are so… limited.”

            “We’re leaving our Jeep here. Temeh and Sara will have reliable transportation,” Yukio assured.

            “That is generous of you, but Azuna and I can provide them with a new vehicle. They are part of our pack. Their care is our responsibility.”

            “Yes, but the Jeep is here now. Why not allow them to have it, and replace it later? There are many other things that they need,” Emma said.

            “We are happy to leave it, but we would need a ride to Flagstaff to catch a flight home,” Yukio assured.

            Tamahoh cast a glance at the helicopter. “Our helicopter cannot seat many extra people.”

            “We are five. Myself, my parents, Emma and her cousin, David,” Yukio replied.

            The Coyote-youkai shook his head. “That is too many.”

            “Do you have a satellite phone that works out here? We can call my uncle to send someone to pick us up.”

            “That I do have. I am surprised you do not,” Tamahoh said.

            “Feh!” Inuyasha snorted.

            “Thank you. We will call once we have a better idea as to when we will need to be picked up. In the meantime, the others will be here for water very soon. What would you like to do?” Yukio asked.

            “Azuna and I will go, but we will be back later. I will give Temeh back his phone so you can use it when the time comes.”

            “Thank you.”

            The Coyote-youkai gave another sharp nod, then turned to go back to his mate and son. Yukio saw him address Ruth and Sara. The old woman nodded and replied, gesturing towards Sara and the hogan. There was a brief discussion, then Tamahoh and Azuna headed for the helicopter. The chopper was lifting off just as a line of older pick-up trucks and SUVs came rolling down the dirt drive, laden with empty barrels and water tanks.

 

*****

 

It took the better part of three hours for everyone who came for water to be served, even with youkai strength and speed. Word of the new well had spread, so people came from all over the surrounding region to get water from the new “blessed” well. Some were those whom Yukio had met before, but there were many new faces. None seemed to trouble Ruth, however, and Yukio trusted her judgment to know who was a threat.

Yukio greeted each person, but did not talk much as he hauled barrels and filled them. Sara and Ruth came over to see each newcomer, chatting away in Dineh, while Michael and Temeh helped unload barrels. At some point, Yukio switched duties with Temeh, leaving the young father to operate the pump while he and Michael carried barrels back and forth. They gave David lighter duties because they were still worried about his head injury.

“How are you doing?” Yukio asked the young Navajo during a short break.

Michael turned his gaze towards where Sara was standing next to Ruth. Peter was still in her arms, but the baby was facing outward, his eyes watching all of the people milling about around the well.

            “I am… adjusting,” was the answer, but his face was somber.

            “It’s a lot to handle in a short time.”

            “Yes.”

            “My family and I are leaving today. We’ll probably give Sara and Temeh our Jeep.”

            Michael paused and Yukio could see that he was trying to choose his words carefully. “That would be… very helpful. Your family has been very generous to us. I wish I could be more grateful, but… I am sorry.”

            “But generations of your People being wary of Coyote cannot be erased in single day by one hanyou child,” he offered.

            “I am glad you understand.”

            “More than you know.”

            Michael sighed. “It will take some getting used to. David and I also need to get back to school. Once we all leave… I don’t know how safe my sister and her baby will be.”

            “Ben has pledged that he’ll make sure they’ll be okay,” Yukio reminded. “And yesterday went well. As long as Peter’s concealment charm stays on him, he’ll look like a normal baby until he’s old enough to maintain a spell on his own.”

            “Last night many came to Ben’s hogan to discuss what happened when the… bats attacked. We told them they were sent by greedy _Belaganas_ who wanted our uranium.”

            “That is true.”

            “Ben also told them that Coyote sent you to protect us and kill the bats.”

            Yukio canted his head a bit. “That’s an… embellishment, but technically also true.”

            “He is working on making sure my people accept the new pact.”

            “The well helps.”

            Michael nodded. “It does.”

            Two trucks lumbered up while Yukio and Michael were speaking. Each was laden with a large tank meant for dispensing water. Yukio frowned, wondering how they would be able to fill the tanks with the hand pump, but then relaxed when he saw that the trucks had come equipped with the proper tubing. He watched as the driver of the first truck hooked the tubing up to the pump with practiced ease, and saw Temeh begin to work the hand crank.

            _‘I should add a motorized pump to the list of things we need to get them,’_ Yukio thought.

            He was already planning to order a wood stove for Ruth. It would be easy to include a solar powered well-pump to the delivery. Given the number of people who were coming to get water from the new well, it would have to be a high-volume system to meet the demand.

            Michael walked over to the driver of the second water truck and began speaking to him, leaving Yukio at loose ends until Emma approached him.

            “Seems to be a popular place this morning,” she commented.

            “Michael told me the next nearest reliable well is hours away.”

            “If this well will truly never run dry, then it will make life a lot easier for everyone living in this area.”

            Yukio nodded.

            “Once everyone gets water, we should start packing up. Tamahoh said he would leave Temeh his satellite phone so we can call my uncle for a ride to Flagstaff. From there we can either get a charter or ask my uncle for one of his private planes to take us back home.”

            “I think David is planning to go with Michael when he leaves so they can go back to school together.”

            “Okay. That makes sense.”

            “Do you think Sara and the baby will be okay once we leave?”

            “I hope so. Ben said he would make sure they were protected, and if Temeh’s parents move back to Tucson, they’ll be closer. And I am sure my father will make sure there is a way for them to call for help. My mother can also reinforce the protective wards she put on the hogan to make sure only people who are invited can enter,” he replied.

            As if on cue, Ben’s old Scout came into view, and Yukio saw that Lori had once again accompanied the _hataalii_. Ruth was already headed towards the vehicle, calling out a greeting. Yukio pointedly did not listen in on the conversation. Even if it hadn’t been in Dineh, it would have been rude to eavesdrop.

            “Oi,” his father’s voice interrupted as Inuyasha came to stand beside him and Emma. “Pick-up in four hours.”

            “You called Uncle with Temeh’s phone?”

            “Keh! As if I’d call him for help. Your mother insisted.”     

            “We’re leaving Sara and Temeh the Jeep then?” Yukio asked.

            Inuyasha nodded. “We’ll get a new one when we get home. Been wanting to trade it in for something a little bigger anyway.”

            “Okay. How are we getting back to Alberta?”

            His father frowned. “Your mother asked to use one of the jets. It’ll be waiting at the airport when we get there.”

            “That works. I figured it would either be that or we’d hire a charter.”

            “Looks like they’re almost finished,” Inuyasha commented, looking towards the second water truck which was now hooked up and being filled.

            “Yes. I was planning to order a solar powered well pump and have it delivered with the wood stove I was going to buy for Ruth. She can’t keep cooking on that makeshift woodstove. It’s dangerous.”

            “Already ordered. They’ll be on chopper when it gets here.”

            Yukio chuckled. “Trust you to always be one step ahead of me.”

            “Feh. That’s why I’m the Alpha.”

            :Yes, Leader-male,: Yukio huffed, chuckling at his father’s answering grumble.

            Any further conversation was cut off by Ben walking towards them, followed by Ruth and Lori.

            “Ya-tah-hey,” Ben greeted. “I hear that you had visitors this morning.”

            “Yes, Temeh’s parents were here,” Yukio confirmed.

            “I am sorry I missed them.”

            “I am sure they will be visiting again soon.”

            “Yes, there is much to be done. Ruth tells me you are leaving today.”

            “Yes. We need to be getting back home.”

            “I hope that we will see you again.”  
            “You will. We’ll be checking up on the pup,” Inuyasha replied.

            Ben smiled and nodded. “You will be welcome.”

            Ruth said something in Dineh and Ben indicated the hogan. “Before you leave, we would like to speak with you and your mate about the child’s health.”

            Inuyasha huffed and lead the way back to the hogan where Kagome and Sara were sitting under the shaded arbor. Sara had Peter on a blanket and the pup looked content enough to play with his own feet. Lori hung back and did not come up to him until the others were some distance away.

            “I wanted to thank you… for everything your family has done to help us with this… situation,” the young _hataalii_ said softly.

            “I know how hard this is for you. I can only hope that things will get easier from here on out.”

            “I am… trying to be… open minded.”

            Yukio smiled to himself. “That is all anyone can ask of you. Well, that and no more armed mobs showing up to kill a teenager and her newborn.”

            Lori winced. “That was unfortunate. I wish it hadn’t happened. I do not think there will be a repeat of it, especially after your family killed those demon bats that attacked.”

            “Pretty sure their being here had something to do with the uranium that’s on the reservation. But they’re gone now, and my guess is the person responsible for bringing them here has been dealt with… permanently. Now with them gone, the blessings and wards that were under attack can be renewed. We’ve already sensed that the magic that was allowing the bats to be here has been broken.”

            Lori nodded. “Yes. We’ve felt it, too. Many of us will be meeting in the near future to perform Ceremony to protect our land.”

            “I’m glad.”

            The last of the people who came for water was served, and the water trucks drove away with happy drivers at their wheels. Temeh and Michael waved as the vehicles rolled down the dirt road, then moved to join the group that was gathering in the shade by the hogan. Lori looked uncertain, but eventually headed their way. Yukio brought up the rear.

            Emma went into the hogan to brew coffee and prepare a small snack for the people outside. Ben and Lori visited for a while, talking about what was next and making plans for the near future, until Ben stated that he was ready to go back to his hogan. He and Lori left shortly thereafter with the promise to return in a few days.

            Michael and David left about an hour later to head back to their classes at University of New Mexico, Gallup. Emma said her goodbyes to her cousin while Sara said goodbye to her brother with tears in her eyes. The siblings hugged, and Michael hugged his grandmother, promising to visit soon, then the two young men drove off in Michael’s older Jeep.

            Once the group was down to just his family plus Ruth, Sara, Peter and Temeh, Kohteh and Kohmeh came out from wherever they were hiding and flanked Peter on the blanket. All of them smiled when Peter latched onto the youkai-coyotes’ silver fur, barking happy welcomes as the two settled down with the pup between them.

            “Best babysitters ever,” Sara commented.

            The rest of them agreed.

            Almost four hours to the minute after his father told him Uncle was sending transport for them, the whirr of a chopper broke the quiet afternoon. A short while later, one of Uncle’s luxury Eurocopters appeared on the horizon. It landed neatly about 100 feet away from the hogan, and the pilot stepped out as Inuyasha and Yukio went to meet him.

            “I have some cargo,” the pilot said.

            “A wood stove and a solar wellpump system?” Yukio asked.

            The pilot shrugged. “Dunno. It’s all in big wooden crates.”

            Inuyasha huffed, but went to the cargo area. Between him and Yukio, they got the well pump and woodstove unloaded, then spent the next two hours getting both installed and operational.

            “This is too much,” Temeh protested.

            “Keh. That barrel stove was dangerous. It could hurt the pup,” his father argued.

            “It’s true. Hogans burn down every year from faulty wood stoves,” Sara said.

            “I should be the one to provide these things,” Temeh countered.

            “Now you won’t have to. You can concentrate on other things Sara and the pup need,” his mother soothed.

            “First the Jeep, now this wood stove and the water pump?” the young father complained.

            “The water pump is for everyone. It will help fill the barrels and water trucks faster and save people from having to pump water manually,” Yukio stated.

            “You make it look like I can’t take care of my family.”

            “Don’t be stupid,” Inuyasha snapped. “You need these things. Take them.”

            “Pride will only get you so far,” Kagome said gently. “With these gifts, your family will have safe heat and cooking, transportation and clean water. And don’t forget, you dug the well. That is the greatest gift you could have given this community. There will be plenty of opportunities to prove that you are a good provider.”

            The young Coyote-youkai didn’t look particularly happy about things, but he grudgingly relented.

Once the stove was installed and tested for safety, and the well pump operating as it should, they began their good-byes.

            “We cannot thank you enough for what you did for me and my baby,” Sara said, tears in her eyes.

            “We are glad we were able to help, and so glad things worked out so well,” Kagome replied.

            “Oi, you take care of your mate and your pup. Be a man,” Inuyasha told Temeh, smacking him lightly on the head.

            Temeh folded his ears and nodded. “I will. I promise.” :Pup obey Leader-male.:

            “Good.”

            “You have our contact information,” Yukio reminded. “If you ever need help, you can call us anytime. My uncle has people in Vegas. He can have someone here in less than an hour if need be.”

            Temeh nodded.

            Ruth came forward and hugged everyone, speaking Navajo blessings and farewells.

            “Hágoónee,” she said in Dineh. “Ahé hee’. _Hózhó Nahasdlii.”_

_“She says good-bye. Thank you. Walk in beauty,” Sara translated._

_“Hózhó Nahasdlii, to you as well, Grandmother,” Yukio said when Ruth hugged him good-bye. “It was an honor to be here. Thank you for welcoming us into your home.”_

_Ruth said something in reply, her sunwizened face cracked into a broad smile._

_“She says you will always be welcome here,” Sara said._

            There were a few more hugs, some tears and good-byes, but eventually Inuyasha was able to usher Yukio, Kagome and Emma into the helicopter. The pilot seemed relieved because it was obvious that he had not expected his simple “pick-up” to last almost three hours. Yukio looked out the Eurocopter window as the chopper lifted off, waving as Ruth, Temeh and Sara waved back. He saw Peter wave as well, his little face looking up at them from his cradleboard. Sara and Temeh were preparing to take their new Jeep into town to get some needed supplies. His father had promised to make sure all the necessary paperwork transferring ownership of the Jeep would be sent to them within a few days.

            “Do you think they will be okay?” Emma asked him from her place in the luxury bucket seat across from him.

            Yukio thought a moment, then nodded. “Yeah, I think they will. And if they’re not, Temeh is smart enough to get Ruth, Sara and the pup out of there and call for help.”

            “Your mother told me she strengthened the protections on the hogan to keep out anyone who would mean them harm.”

            He had expected as much. “Her wards are very powerful. The family is as safe as we can make them without having them move from the reservation.”

            “Ruth deserves to live her final years in her home.”

            “Yes,” Yukio agreed.

            “Are you looking forward to being home?”

            “I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed in a house with central heat and air conditioning and indoor plumbing,” he answered.

            Emma chuckled, but Inuyasha huffed. “Feh. You’re going soft.”

            His mother scowled and smacked his father on the head. “You’re one to talk. You’re looking forward to being home, too.”

            “Keh! Just because I miss my pup. I don’t need any modern conveniences.”

            Kagome cast Yukio a knowing look and he smiled to himself. “Sure you don’t. Just like you didn’t try to modernize our den or our first house.”

            “That was for you!” Inuyasha argued.

            “Of course, Outoto. Whatever you say,” Yukio teased.

            “Feh!” Inuyasha barked, crossing his arms.

            “Strap in, everyone,” the pilot said. “We’ll be landing in Flagstaff in about an hour.”

            From there they were taking one of Uncle’s Gulfstream jets back to Calgary. Yukio looked back down at the hogan that was growing ever smaller with height and distance. None of the people on the ground were watching the helicopter anymore, and he could see the small family standing together by the hogan door. They were moving on with their day, and their lives.

            He glanced over at Emma, who met his gaze with a shy smile that he returned. He really did like her. Maybe there would be something there if he nurtured it. Maybe he should heed Miaka’s words and try to move on with his own life.

            “Friday and Sunday nights, huh?” he said.

            “Hm?” Emma replied, confused, but then her face cleared with understanding. “Oh, yes.”

            He took out his phone and checked his calendar. “I’ll pick you up next Sunday?”

            She did a little double take, but then smiled. “That would be perfect. I’ll make sure my schedule is clear.”

            “Okay!” he said and put it in his calendar.

            She grinned, her eyes shining. “I think it will be a great time.”

            “Yeah, I think so, too.”

            She nodded and looked away, a faint flush to her cheeks, and from the corner of his eye, he saw his mother trying not to smile. He shook his head slightly, wondering what the hell he was getting himself into, then rested his head against the soft back of the leather bucket seat. Looking out the helicopter window again, he saw that the hogan was no longer in sight, and the view ahead was an endless expanse of cloudless sky.

 


	19. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is it guys. The last installment of Coyote Child. It's done. Finis. That's all she wrote. It took me 13 years to complete this story, but I got it done. Feels good. Now if only I could finish my other orphan fics. Thank you to all of you who stuck with me all these years. Your comments were gold. *hugs*

Epilogue – Eight months later

 

“Aniki! Aniki! Aniki!” Ian greeted, running towards him at full speed as he stepped off his bike.

“Otouto!” he replied, reaching out as the pup launched himself into Yukio’s arms. “Oooff! I see you ate bricks for lunch again.”

Ian giggled and wrapped his legs around his big brother’s waist. “I did not!”

Yukio bounced the boy on his hip. “I dunno. Feels like bricks to me.”

A quick sniff revealed a familiar scent, and his heart sped up. Ian snickered, catching Yukio scenting him. “Emma-san is here.”

“Is that so?” he commented, carrying the pup as he made his way into the house.

“Hai! Kaa-san and Oneesama were teaching her today.”

The respectful honorific could only mean that Mariko had come to assist with Emma’s miko training. So far the young Cree had been handling the lessons well.

He set Ian down as he passed through the grand entry. Ian giggled and ran off in the direction of the back of the house, presumably to find his mother and sister while he headed for the kitchen. He’d been out visiting sites all day, checking to make sure all the projects were on time and on budget, and he was hungry. He found his father sitting at the kitchen island, scarfing down a bowl of ramen.

“Got any for me?” he asked breezily.

“Feh. Make your own,” Inuyasha grumbled. :Welcome back, Beta-male:

:Leader-male stingy.:

“Keh! It takes two minutes.” :Pup old enough to feed himself.:

Yukio snickered, but set about making his own late lunch. His father grumbled more as Yukio pulled down four packages of ramen from the stuffed cabinet. 

“How’d it go?” Inuyasha asked. 

“Good,” he replied. “Arbor Lake is having some issues with drainage, but coming along. Evanston and Rosedale are on schedule and on budget.”

“Told them they needed an extra sump pump,” Inuyasha groused.

“One’s been ordered.”

“Good. Maybe next time they’ll listen to me.”

Yukio frowned. “I wouldn’t bet on that.”

His father sighed. “Me either.” 

They enjoyed the comfortable silence of loving family as Yukio made his food and a large cup of coffee. His father wasn’t one to fill the air with chatter, and he had nothing more to report.

“The miko’s here,” Inuyasha announced as Yukio sat down at the counter to eat.

“Which one?” he teased.

His father gave him a side-long glance. “You know which one.”

He chuckled and took a large bite of his food. “I do. Besides, I smelled her all over Ian.”

Inuyasha shrugged. “Pup’s a bigger cuddler than you were.”

“There are worse things.”

“True. You going to Edmonton this weekend?

“I was planning to.”

“You willing to stop in and check on the Empire Park site?”

“Sure, but why?”

“Don’t like the reports coming from the crew. Inspector said he found some violations, but I suspect he wants a bribe.”

Yukio snorted. “He’s obviously never worked with us before.”

“He’s new.”

Yukio took a drink from his coffee mug. “He’ll learn.”

Inuyasha huffed an assent.

They sat in silence for a few moments more as Yukio finished his meal, then he got up to wash his dish and coffee cup before going to find Emma. He didn’t want to seem too eager, but his father smirked at him anyway. Yukio ignored him and headed further into the house, towards the sunroom where Emma usually rested after her training sessions. His mother and Mariko were hard taskmasters, but from everything he had seen and heard, Emma was rising to the challenge.

He found her resting on a lounge chair in the sunroom, basking in the fading light. She was dressed in her street clothes – her usual outfit of jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, but her hair was still damp. He knew the training sessions usually ended with a long, aromatic soak in the spa to loosen muscles and relax the mind. She looked at peace, lying there with her eyes closed, but he knew she could sense him come into the room. 

She was a sight to look at, and his heart warmed. It had taken him months to work up the courage to give them a chance, but so far it had been working out well. Emma had the Talent Miaka never had, and her ability to read and work with youkai and youkai energy was helping her to become more adjusted to their supernatural life better than Miaka ever could.

“Hey,” he said.

She smiled, but did not open her eyes. “Hey.”

“Want me to braid your hair?” 

“Yes, please.”

He took one of the other upright chairs in the room and placed it behind her. She raised the lounge chair up high enough to make her hair easily accessible. He knew she kept a comb and her hair accessories in the day-bag she brought for her sessions, so he reached into it and took out what he needed. With practiced ease, he separated her long hair into two sections, combing them free of tangles and splitting them into thirds.

“How did today go?” he asked, his hands deftly working.

“Pretty good. We’ve started on honing my ability to sense youkai from a distance. I felt you approaching about five minutes before you got home.”

“Impressive.”  
“Your mother says I should realistically be able to sense youkai shouki from twenty miles away.”

“You get much stronger and I won’t be able to surprise you when I pick you up from class anymore.”

She chuckled and opened her eyes, tilting her head back to look at him. He knew that she could see him in his true form all the time now, and it still gave him a bit of thrill. 

“We could consider it practice. See how far out I can sense you.”

“Would ruin the surprise though,” he pointed out, tying off the end of the first braid and starting the second.

“There are other ways you could surprise me,” she teased.

“True. But it would ruin the scandalized looks I get whenever I walk into the classroom to sweep you off your feet.”

She laughed. “My handsome, Japanese boyfriend. If only they knew.”

“You could tell them I cosplay as a silver-haired inu-youkai at ComicCon.”

“You’d win Best Costume for sure.”

“Until someone tried to take off my “fake” ears and wig.”

She laughed again, low and easy. “Tell me something?”

“Anything,” he promised, finishing the second braid. He then moved on to securing the two decorative barrettes that adorned the braids. Strands of his hair were used in their making, replacing the traditional thread. She also had a necklace that contained one of his teeth, blessed for her protection.

“Is it true that your father had an enchanted necklace that your mother could use to incapacitate him?”

“The Kotodama no nenju, yes. They were enchanted prayer beads. Kaede-sama put them on him when he was first freed from Goshinboku. He was raging, violent. The beads prevented him from hurting anyone by subduing him with a word.”

He moved the chair from behind her and placed it next to the lounger so he could look at her.

“Sit.”

“Osuwari. My mother used it often.”

Emma raised the lounge chair higher until she was almost in a full seated position.

“What did it do?”

“It subdued him. Mostly by planting his face into the ground. Every time she said it, he would slam down.”

“Sounds painful.”

“It was. In more ways than one, but it didn’t hurt him – not physically at least. But my mother realized that she abused it. She would use it to punish him for things she didn’t like rather than things he had done wrong or were dangerous. I know it’s hard to tell now, but she had quite a temper in her younger years.”

“You don’t say,” Emma quipped, dryly.

He smiled. “It’s true. But eventually, she realized that my father deserved his freedom, so she took them off.” His smile turned wry. “And she’s regretted it ever since.”

Emma laughed. 

“My father still has them. Sometimes I think he misses them,” he added more seriously.

“Why?”

“Because now there’s nothing to hold him back. Before when he had them on, he could always count on my mother to stop him if he got out of control. Once they were off, he had to rely on himself.”

“And did he? Ever go out of control?”

He shook his head. “Never.”

“Hmm. Kagome-san and Miaka-san spoke of them today when we were talking about enchanted items. They said I will be able to create them as well.”

He nodded. “Oh yes. Eventually. It’s the same holy energy that helps you make the enchanted bullets.”

“I still struggle with the concept of holy. I don’t feel like a priestess,” she admitted with a small frown.

He shrugged. “That’s because you have this vision of what a priestess should be. Not all of them have to be cloistered virgins kept locked away from the world. But you know that from your own tribe. Your Medicine Men and Women are revered elders in your community.”

“It’s the Revered Elder part I’m struggling with,” she said.

“I’m 460 years old, and still refuse to grow up,” he reminded her in a conspiratorial whisper.

She regarded him with a critical eye, looking him over thoughtfully.

“Hmm. You don’t look a day over 300.”

“I moisturize.”

He said it in a deadpan voice that made Emma laugh.

“You going back to Edmonton tonight?” he asked leadingly.

She gave him a coy look. “I don’t have class tomorrow, so I guess I could stay.”

His grin turned sly. “If you stay, I am sure we could find something to do. I am your handsome, Japanese boyfriend, after all.”

“I prefer my handsome hanyou,” she corrected, leaning forward.

“That works for me, too,” he answered, accepting her kiss.

When the kiss was over, he offered his hand to her. “C’mon, let’s see what we can get up to tonight.”

She accepted his hand and rose to her feet.

“I heard there might be a band worth seeing at Ironwood.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he agreed, holding her hand as they stood side-by-side.

“Or maybe we can look to see if anything is happening at Junction Grand or the Arts Commons.”

“Okay. Can we take my bike?”

She crinkled her nose. 

“And mess up my hair after you spent so much time re-braiding it?”

“I’ll have you know I braid iron-clad braids.”

She gave him a dour look to show him how unconvinced she was by that statement.

“Right. Answer’s still no.”

He made a show of pouting, bringing her hand up for him to kiss the backs of her fingers. “You never let me have any fun.”

“Sometimes I think you need your own set of enchanted prayer beads,” she said, unimpressed.

“What’s the Cree word for Sit, Boy?” 

She groaned. “You’re incorrigible.”

“Yes, but you love me anyway,” he replied.

She sighed and gave him a tender look.

“I do. I really do.”

He smiled wider and offered her his arm. She took it and pressed close as they left the sunroom behind.

The final rays of sunlight coming through the tall windows lit on floating motes of dust dancing in small patterns on a non-existent breeze, and somewhere in the Afterlife, Joseph Talking-Wolf and Miaka Fushikenwa smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> In this story I use the name Lori Peistewa. Lori was the first Native American woman to die in combat for the United States when her convoy was ambushed in Iraq in April of 2003. She left behind two small children under the age of six. I use her name to honor her sacrifice, as we honor the sacrifices of all our men and women fighting and dying in that far away land. 
> 
> DISCLAIMER: I'm not Navajo or any Native American. I do, however, try to get it as right as anyone outside of a culture can, and try to be respectful of beliefs and customs.


End file.
